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Cool Playgrounds and annoying liability laws

ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
edited January 2007 in Debate and/or Discourse
Spurred by a comment in the [chat] I recalled how many cool and creative playgrounds there were in and around my town when I was growing up. Almost all of them were unique endevours, mostly made of wood beams, that offered a plethora of opportunities for climbing and jumping, sliding and swinging. Some evoked images of log forts or even giant wooden teepees. Many had custom built slides with humps and curves. They were structures that, as a kid, I couldn't wait to explore. Only a few places sported the steel modular set with the "four steps up, side, swing and pole" combo that seems to dominate today.

All these cool playgrounds seem to have been dissapearing of late; to be replaced with the same steel tube set up described above. I, and I'm sure no few of you all, deem this a sad state of affairs. I know that the litigiousness of Americans is mostly to blame. Kids must now only run around in a padded universe with no chance of splinters and a skinned knee may be deemed a sueable incident.

I mourn the loss of those great places where I spent hours playing tag, or being a pirate or avoiding the hot lava and I ask if any of you have any similarly great places to share. I regret that it never occcured to me to take pictures of the playground equipment of my youth, but it's too late now. I can tender this description and pics that I posted in the [chat] awhile back from a Japanese school playground where the liability laws are somwhat different.

Additionally I would like to hear ideas on what you think would make a truly awesome playground and perhaps how to set up one that is cool without running afoul of the lawyers.

Anyways;

OK, so first off the school has about two acres of woods adjacent to the soccer field. Fir, pine and birch up to about 40 ft tall. The underbrush is all short bamboo (three-four feet tall). A not too steep ravine (about 8 feet deep) with a small stream at the bottom runs through the middle of it and trails crisscross the whole thing.
Now, this by itself would be a pretty awesome place for tag and hide-an-seek or snowball tag which they are playing today. Many a paintball course would kill to have a layout like this. But that's not all.

There are also many swings, tire and conventional, scattered throughout. This includes a large platform swing you could fit five adults on no problem. Multiple log bridges of varying thickness cross the ravine, some with a handrail, some without. There is also a big, knotted rope to swing across on. A 40 ft long zipline also crosses the ravine at an angle from one of several platforms built up in the trees. Ah yes, the trees.

Over about 1/3 of the total area all the trees have been connected with thick ropes. Each tree is connected to each nearby tree with stout ropes starting four feet off the ground and proceeding at four foot intervals up to 30 feet or so. So , think of a 30ft high, half acre jungle gym. Large logs are also arranged like ramps up into the higher levels of the trees and the multiple platforms.

So if you wanted to play ninjas for example you could easily cross from one side to the other without once touching the ground or you could creep through the bamboo similarly undetected, unless the guy in the trees above you spots you and nails you with a shurukin, I mean snowball.

The kids just swarmed up into the trees like monkeys, boys and girls alike.


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Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
ALocksly on
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Posts

  • Rear Admiral ChocoRear Admiral Choco I wanna be an owl, Jerry! Owl York CityRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Reminds me of this: Fun Toy Banned Because of Three Stupid Dead Kids

    While I can't imagine many parents being happy about their children getting hurt on some the best playgrounds ever, I hate that they're taken out in favour of shitty safer ones.

    Fuck those kids, I say. Just worry about the ones who can actually handle themselves having fun. :P

    I remember an awesome wooden playground with a couple bridges between three towers, and another tower having a slidebar. Just hop and grab the thing and slide over to the other side. It was so rad.

    Rear Admiral Choco on
  • TastyfishTastyfish Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Not really going to say a lot, but I think a lot of kids' playgrounds are effected by the same sort of thing that catfood is. You don't need to make it appeal to cats, but to adults. Kids are pretty imaginative and probably don't object to things being the same in different towns as much as you might.

    At what point does looking cool justify an increase in risk to the kids involved? Imaginative they may be, wel co-ordinated they aren't and they don't always bounce

    Tastyfish on
  • CrimsonKingCrimsonKing Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Old school playgrounds were a great boon to Darwinism.

    CrimsonKing on
    This sig was too tall - Elki.
  • mccmcc glitch Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2007
    When I got to about the third grade or something, there was a ruling that wooden playgrounds were illegal or something, because people might get splinters or something I don't know, and everything had to be made out of plastic and metal.

    Dutifully, the school spent a year tearing down the playground and building a metal/plastic one.

    The couple of years after they installed this, injuries skyrocketed, because kids fall down on playground equipment all the time, but while if you fall down on wood you just get up again, if you fall down on hard metal you are injured.

    The result was that in order to prevent their "safe" playground equipment from being a safety hazard entirely unlike any of the unsafe playground equipment they had formerly had, the kids were no longer allowed to run on the playground equipment, or use said playground equipment anytime after it rained.

    mcc on
  • redxredx I(x)=2(x)+1 whole numbersRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    There is a kinda neat playground thing, at this one park in Tallahasse. It is metal and modual, but is pretty big and kinda neat.

    tom_brown_park_playground_s.jpg

    tom_brown_park_spacenet.jpg

    now... if you look at the ground you'll notice that it is kinda blue. It is about of foot of little tinny rubber cube things. They are fucking awsome. You can tackle someone into them, and it doesn't hurt at all. If you fall of one of the metal dealies, and don't land on metal, they totaly break your fall.

    I also found the rope thing kinda neat.

    there is a disc golf course there, which is rather keen.

    redx on
    They moistly come out at night, moistly.
  • ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Tastyfish wrote:
    Not really going to say a lot, but I think a lot of kids' playgrounds are effected by the same sort of thing that catfood is. You don't need to make it appeal to cats, but to adults. Kids are pretty imaginative and probably don't object to things being the same in different towns as much as you might.

    At what point does looking cool justify an increase in risk to the kids involved? Imaginative they may be, wel co-ordinated they aren't and they don't always bounce

    When I was a kid and the log fort got repaced I was so dissapointed, as were all my friends. We were ten or so at the time. I submit that not knowing that there is anything better is not the same as not being able to apprecieate the difference.

    ALocksly on
    Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
  • Look Out it's Sabs!Look Out it's Sabs! Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    When I was in Budapest during the summer, me and a couple of guys were walking through one of the parks that was in the middle of the river. They had lots of cool stuff there playground wise. The thing that caught my eyes the most were these skateboard like things that were attached to a pole with handrails. Basically the kids go on the board and swing side to side. Looked pretty cool.

    Look Out it's Sabs! on
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  • TM2 RampageTM2 Rampage Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    When I was in elementary school, there was a sandbox with playground contraptions on it (monkeybars, slide, etc.). Then they took out all the sand and put wood chips in it.


    What the fuck? Luckily by then my classmates and I got a bit older and for some reason stopped playing on that. Maybe it was because of the damn wood chips. EDIT: The smell of sawdust and the thought of getting cut/stabbed/splintered by those jagged splintery woodchips turned me off...

    TM2 Rampage on
  • No Great NameNo Great Name FRAUD DETECTED Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Saburbia wrote:
    When I was in Budapest during the summer, me and a couple of guys were walking through one of the parks that was in the middle of the river. They had lots of cool stuff there playground wise. The thing that caught my eyes the most were these skateboard like things that were attached to a pole with handrails. Basically the kids go on the board and swing side to side. Looked pretty cool.
    I had one of those in my backyard, on a swingset with two more swings and a slide.

    It was awesome.

    We had to spike the set into the ground though, because it wasn't heavy enough to NOT FALL OVER WHEN YOU SKATEBOARDSWUNG TOO HIGH.

    Also, there used to be an awesome wooden playground set/awesome maze fort thing near my cousins house that'd our parents would take us to when we were young.

    But then the "oh no wood!" thing came about and it was taken down. I was around 11 and after going on the new "safe" metal and plastic I can affirm that what the shit are they thinking that stuff hurts like hell.

    No Great Name on
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  • GimGim a tall glass of water Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    I grew up in Austin until a little after the start of first grade. I used to love going to Zilker Park because it had this large wooden ship that you could run around on. I don't remember much else, except that they took it all out and added new equipment shortly before I moved. I seem to remember there was a lot more concrete.

    Anyone in Austin care to give me an update on Zilker Park? Oh, also, there was a Sonic in Austin where you would go inside and order from your booth using a phone. Is that place still around?

    Gim on
  • ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    redx wrote:
    There is a kinda neat playground thing, at this one park in Tallahasse. It is metal and modual, but is pretty big and kinda neat.

    tom_brown_park_playground_s.jpg[mg][img]http://www.tallahasseetour.com/gallery/d/120-1/tom_brown_park_spacenet.jpg[mg] now... if you look at the ground you'll notice that it is kinda blue. It is about of foot of little tinny rubber cube things. They are fucking awsome. You can tackle someone into them, and it doesn't hurt at all. If you fall of one of the metal dealies, and don't land on metal, they totaly break your fall. I also found the rope thing kinda neat. there is a disc golf course there, which is rather keen.[/img]

    see, that's some good stuff there

    ALocksly on
    Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
  • Rear Admiral ChocoRear Admiral Choco I wanna be an owl, Jerry! Owl York CityRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    ALocksly wrote:
    redx wrote:
    There is a kinda neat playground thing, at this one park in Tallahasse. It is metal and modual, but is pretty big and kinda neat.

    tom_brown_park_playground_s.jpg[mg][img]http://www.tallahasseetour.com/gallery/d/120-1/tom_brown_park_spacenet.jpg[mg] now... if you look at the ground you'll notice that it is kinda blue. It is about of foot of little tinny rubber cube things. They are fucking awsome. You can tackle someone into them, and it doesn't hurt at all. If you fall of one of the metal dealies, and don't land on metal, they totaly break your fall. I also found the rope thing kinda neat. there is a disc golf course there, which is rather keen.[/img]

    see, that's some good stuff there

    This is the way they should be making new playgrounds.

    Rear Admiral Choco on
  • Look Out it's Sabs!Look Out it's Sabs! Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    ALocksly wrote:
    redx wrote:
    There is a kinda neat playground thing, at this one park in Tallahasse. It is metal and modual, but is pretty big and kinda neat.

    tom_brown_park_playground_s.jpg[mg][img]http://www.tallahasseetour.com/gallery/d/120-1/tom_brown_park_spacenet.jpg[mg] now... if you look at the ground you'll notice that it is kinda blue. It is about of foot of little tinny rubber cube things. They are fucking awsome. You can tackle someone into them, and it doesn't hurt at all. If you fall of one of the metal dealies, and don't land on metal, they totaly break your fall. I also found the rope thing kinda neat. there is a disc golf course there, which is rather keen.[/img]

    see, that's some good stuff there

    This is the way they should be making new playgrounds.

    My school didnt have playgrounds, just giant tires which was fun till they were taken out too. grrrrr

    Look Out it's Sabs! on
    NNID: Sabuiy
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Used to have an awesome old 1920s style firetruck at the playground. The steering wheel and stuff was removed, but other than that it was basically intact. Loved playing on that thing.

    A few years back ,they replaced it with some faggoty playground metal bar construction that resembled the fire engine.

    WHY??

    DarkPrimus on
  • JinniganJinnigan Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Does anyone have a link to the ruling of "no more wood"?

    Jinnigan on
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  • mccmcc glitch Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2007
    Jinnigan wrote:
    Does anyone have a link to the ruling of "no more wood"?
    I have no idea, but I seem to remember whatever ruling hit my specific elementary school was specific to the state of Texas.

    mcc on
  • ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Saburbia wrote:
    ALocksly wrote:
    redx wrote:
    There is a kinda neat playground thing, at this one park in Tallahasse. It is metal and modual, but is pretty big and kinda neat.

    tom_brown_park_playground_s.jpg[mg][img]http://www.tallahasseetour.com/gallery/d/120-1/tom_brown_park_spacenet.jpg[mg] now... if you look at the ground you'll notice that it is kinda blue. It is about of foot of little tinny rubber cube things. They are fucking awsome. You can tackle someone into them, and it doesn't hurt at all. If you fall of one of the metal dealies, and don't land on metal, they totaly break your fall. I also found the rope thing kinda neat. there is a disc golf course there, which is rather keen.[/img]

    see, that's some good stuff there

    This is the way they should be making new playgrounds.

    My school didnt have playgrounds, just giant tires which was fun till they were taken out too. grrrrr

    My old school did the same thing. A mom complained about black stains (rubber which washes out no problem) on her kids pants. She was high enough up in the school PTAish thing to get them removed.

    sheesh

    ALocksly on
    Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
  • Look Out it's Sabs!Look Out it's Sabs! Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    When I get older and I have kids, if there isn't a decent playground around, I so have to build a cool/unique one for them. I didn't have one nearby me, only those unimaginative plain boring ones, and I don't want that to happen to my children aswell.

    Look Out it's Sabs! on
    NNID: Sabuiy
    3DS: 2852-6809-9411
  • INeedNoSaltINeedNoSalt with blood on my teeth Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    When I was in elementary school, there was a sandbox with playground contraptions on it (monkeybars, slide, etc.). Then they took out all the sand and put wood chips in it.


    What the fuck? Luckily by then my classmates and I got a bit older and for some reason stopped playing on that. Maybe it was because of the damn wood chips. EDIT: The smell of sawdust and the thought of getting cut/stabbed/splintered by those jagged splintery woodchips turned me off...
    Yeah, what the fuck is up with using wood chips instead of sand.

    INeedNoSalt on
  • AurinAurin Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2003/2003-11-06-09.asp

    Here's one reference to wooden playgrounds, a few years ago.
    Feds Deny Petition to Ban Arsenic Treated Playground Equipment
    WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2003 - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted unanimously Tuesday to deny a petition to ban the use of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) pressure treated wood in playground equipment.

    More than 90 percent of wood playground equipment and residential decks now in use has been treated with CCA, which is an arsenic based pesticide used to protect wood from rotting caused by insects and microbial agents.

    The CPSC said the ban was unnecessary because CCA manufacturers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed in February 2002 to phase out CCA treatment of wood for most consumer uses by the end of 2003. The EPA says there is no reason to remove or replace CCA treated structures.

    "The industry has already agreed to stop using this chemical as a treatment for wood for most residential consumer uses," said CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton. "The EPA action effectively addresses the petitioners' request."

    CCA is a registered chemical pesticide that is subject to EPA regulation, but the playground equipment made with the pesticide treated wood is the jurisdictional responsibility of the CPSC.

    The petition was filed in 2001 by the Environmental Working Group and the Healthy Building Network; the organizations contend the government has been far too slow in responding to growing evidence of the health risks posed to children by the treated wood.

    A CPSC study released earlier this year found that two to 100 of every one million children frequently exposed to CCA treated wood risk developing lung or bladder cancer from that exposure. The increased risk from CCA treated wood is in addition to other risks of developing cancer and is primarily due to exposure to arsenic residue on children's hands followed by hand to mouth contact.

    To minimize the risk of exposure to arsenic from CCA treated playground equipment, the CPSC staff recommends that parents and caregivers thoroughly wash children's hands with soap and water immediately after playing on such equipment.

    In addition, the staff recommends that children not eat while on CCA treated playground equipment.

    Edit: Well, this is denying a ban, I need to learn to read. But the schools might have taken them down for that reason, beside splinters. Or maybe they had termites, no idea, my playgrounds have always been the ugly metal things. :(

    Aurin on
  • ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Aurin wrote:
    http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2003/2003-11-06-09.asp

    Here's one reference to wooden playgrounds, a few years ago.


    Edit: Well, this is denying a ban, I need to learn to read. But the schools might have taken them down for that reason, beside splinters. Or maybe they had termites, no idea, my playgrounds have always been the ugly metal things. :(

    I came across that as well while looking for info on the "wood ban" then I remembered that most, if not all of the structures I remembered had been standing so long that the origional preserveitive had long since leached out of the wood. I think that most of the "ban" just came from a few lawsuits over spinters somewhere and many towns and schools just decided to do away with the wood structures as a precaution angainst lawsuits.

    edit: Ima go hunt up some more pics



    playground.jpg

    I am liking the mini climbing walls too

    playground%201.jpg

    long slide

    paulsgrove_01.jpg

    playground.jpg

    ALocksly on
    Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2007
    One of the parks here in south Omaha, Highland Park, had a big metalframe Submarine. Fun as hell, when you're a little kid that thing was huge. I remember one summer day that there had to be at least 20 kids on the damn thing at once. Supposedly it had been there since the late 70's/early 80s.

    Had a lot of fun on there as a kid. Then they took it away around 1997 or so. Oh no! Then it came back but was all painted up. A couple years it disappeared again, this time for good.

    Highland Park is now dead and hardly ever visited by families anymore. They took out the swingsets too... I think the only thing left is a slide.



    Oh, and across the river in Council Bluffs they had an awesome playground called the Dream Playground. Huge wooden fort kinda thing, as big as a house. Had two main parts and a bouncing bridge that went between them. It sucked when I got too old to play in it, that thing was fun, but they're kinda letting it fall into disrepair :( It was so badass that there was actually secret hallways/passages you could find that we would hide in and kids could never find you. Plus an alternate way to get between the two main structures was about a 12 foot high monkey bar span.

    All the other city parks have become those lame Park-in-a-box with the hot metal decks and lame tic-tac-toe board things.

    FyreWulff on
  • ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Here's one you can look up yourself (provided you have google earth)

    go to Japan

    go to Hokkaido, the northernmost island.

    go to Sapporo, the largest city of the island, in the southeast quadrant.

    go zoom in on the red dot that denotes the city center.

    just to the north of the dot is a green strip running roughly east-west.

    near the center of this strip there are two paved areas showing concentric circles.

    to the left (west) of the circles is a large, white crescent.

    this is a slide

    I have slid on it. It is an entire fake hillside made of some slick, hard substance. With good balance you can "ski" down it in your shoes.

    ALocksly on
    Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
  • 2and2is52and2is5 Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    I had an old-school playground near my grandma's house when I was growing up. Nothing but bee's nests, wooden forts, and swings that if you jumped off you would land in the woods. Also, I'm pretty sure instead of dirt or anything else the ground was covered in rocks. But damn was it fun.


    Kind of off topic, but does anyone remember those laser tag guns that had the sensors that you attached to you head? When you got shot it vibrated right on the temple.

    2and2is5 on
  • SithDrummerSithDrummer Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Steel isn't much better than wood, TBH. At his birthday party, a friend of mine was 'it' while we were playing tag, and was chasing his bigger brother. The brother ducked to avoid a horizontal steel bar, but because my friend was immediately behind his larger brother, he didn't see the bar and couldn't duck. Got like twenty stitches right in his forehead. He hit that sucker dead on.

    SithDrummer on
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    When I was in elementary school, there was a sandbox with playground contraptions on it (monkeybars, slide, etc.). Then they took out all the sand and put wood chips in it.


    What the fuck? Luckily by then my classmates and I got a bit older and for some reason stopped playing on that. Maybe it was because of the damn wood chips. EDIT: The smell of sawdust and the thought of getting cut/stabbed/splintered by those jagged splintery woodchips turned me off...
    Yeah, what the fuck is up with using wood chips instead of sand.
    Sand hurts like a bitch when you fall on it but the wood chips help break the fall?

    Leitner on
  • Dr_ColossusDr_Colossus Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    The Japanese are masters of cool playgrounds, these you have to a pay a little for, but they rock hard.


    pk_33.jpg
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    pk_30.jpg
    pk_28.jpg
    pk_45.jpg

    Dr_Colossus on
    sword.gifblack.gifcliff.gifblah3.gif
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    DINOSAUR SLIDE?!

    DarkPrimus on
  • redxredx I(x)=2(x)+1 whole numbersRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    That's a whole lot of awsome Dr. C.

    redx on
    They moistly come out at night, moistly.
  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Guys.... ROAD TRIP!

    (or whatever the "flying to another country" version of a road trip is)

    Forar on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
  • redxredx I(x)=2(x)+1 whole numbersRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    MiniPac 4:Tokyo:Play harder.

    redx on
    They moistly come out at night, moistly.
  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    man

    They should totally have playgrounds like these for adults

    Dinosaur slides and all

    Evil Multifarious on
  • Andrew_JayAndrew_Jay Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    When I was in Britain there was a really cool playground near our campus. The best part was a this thing like a gondola (can't think of any better name for it) - a long rope between to pylons on a slight slope. Hanging from it was another rope and a platform for you to stand on as you flew down its length, running in a little trench lined with that padding stuff.

    Whenever we were coming back into town on the train we had to stop by on the way home and fool around with it for a while.
    Jinnigan wrote:
    Does anyone have a link to the ruling of "no more wood"?
    That's one of the big things that really hurt playgrounds everywhere.

    I've watched the playground at my old elementary school shrink and shrink over the years.

    One of the best parts was the giant vertical cargo net, about 20' high that linked two halfs of the structure. It was cool when you were playing tag and you could see the other players but couldn't reach them. It was, of course, tons of fun to climb on too.

    That was the first to go.

    There was also a swinging bridge, about 10' long that you could jump and bounce on. That went next, replaced with a rigid bridge.

    Eventually the whole thing was replaced - which admitedly was necessary as it was more than 20 years old - and the new one consists of a lot of those plastic segments and is a shell of its former self.

    There was another playground that was possibly even cooler - multi-level wood structure, spiral slide, another swinging bridge, etc. etc. That was completely bulldozed one day and replaced with a much smaller plastic thing.

    Andrew_Jay on
  • redxredx I(x)=2(x)+1 whole numbersRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    man

    They should totally have playgrounds like these for adults

    Dinosaur slides and all



    Holy shit man. If you ever get down to PA, Check out sesame place.

    it is pretty massive, and they have all sorts of big over sized playground stuff, including this massive elevated cargo net thing. See... the idea is that you can go on the crap with your kids, but...

    fuck... The website is shitty, and I'm not having a lot of luck with GiS, but that shit was AMAZING. and like, they only let a certian number of people into the park at a time, so there arn't much for lines. god... it is great.


    edit: guh! bullshit. NO decent pictue. All fucking kids and wienies in constumes.

    redx on
    They moistly come out at night, moistly.
  • Reis2Reis2 Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Gim wrote:
    I grew up in Austin until a little after the start of first grade. I used to love going to Zilker Park because it had this large wooden ship that you could run around on. I don't remember much else, except that they took it all out and added new equipment shortly before I moved. I seem to remember there was a lot more concrete.

    Anyone in Austin care to give me an update on Zilker Park? Oh, also, there was a Sonic in Austin where you would go inside and order from your booth using a phone. Is that place still around?

    OH MY GOD THAT THING WAS AWESOME

    Going to Zilker park was the be all and end all of class trips. Oh freakin man.

    Things have changed there my friend. Things have changed.

    Reis2 on
    世界は美しくなんかない。それ故に、美しい。
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  • TachTach Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    The park near my apartment when I was growning up had the usual playground "deathtraps".

    The sand pits with the hemispherical metal cages, large and small, the carousel-like spinning vomit machine, the standard chain and rubber seat swings, the metal spring rocking horse dealies, and the overhead ladder-thing.

    But the main draw for the older kids were the two structures just adjacent to the sand pits.

    One was a large circular stand, about 15' across, that only had poles to climb up onto it and down from. It was a test of skill to get up there.

    The other was a two story metal rocket. I kid you not. Bottom floor held a ladder to the second, where you could either slide down, or climb up to the third level and be pilots. The structure was made with little space between the bars, in an attempt to keep kids from climbing the outside. Didn't work to well. Many a broken arm from that structure, I'm sure.

    It's all gone now. Replaced by your standard orange and blue "Pepsi Playpark".

    *sigh*

    Tach on
  • Curly_BraceCurly_Brace Robot Girl Mimiga VillageRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    SC wrote:
    When I was in elementary school, there was a sandbox with playground contraptions on it (monkeybars, slide, etc.). Then they took out all the sand and put wood chips in it.


    What the fuck? Luckily by then my classmates and I got a bit older and for some reason stopped playing on that. Maybe it was because of the damn wood chips. EDIT: The smell of sawdust and the thought of getting cut/stabbed/splintered by those jagged splintery woodchips turned me off...
    Yeah, what the fuck is up with using wood chips instead of sand.
    Sand hurts like a bitch when you fall on it but the wood chips help break the fall?
    Heh, maybe in stupid-land. Seriosuly though wood chips = splinters all over your legs = NOT FUN. Sand = sand castles = fun. Simple, no?

    Hey, didn't the creator of "Katamari Damacy" quit the buisness and go off to design playgrounds?

    Curly_Brace on
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    SC wrote:
    When I was in elementary school, there was a sandbox with playground contraptions on it (monkeybars, slide, etc.). Then they took out all the sand and put wood chips in it.


    What the fuck? Luckily by then my classmates and I got a bit older and for some reason stopped playing on that. Maybe it was because of the damn wood chips. EDIT: The smell of sawdust and the thought of getting cut/stabbed/splintered by those jagged splintery woodchips turned me off...
    Yeah, what the fuck is up with using wood chips instead of sand.
    Sand hurts like a bitch when you fall on it but the wood chips help break the fall?
    Heh, maybe in stupid-land. Seriosuly though wood chips = splinters all over your legs = NOT FUN. Sand = sand castles = fun. Simple, no?
    The woodchips in my playgrounds were made of a special type of wood, more like hard cardboard then genuine wood so never gave me any splinters. I thought that was standard?

    Leitner on
  • JandaruJandaru New ZealandRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Andrew_Jay wrote:
    The best part was a this thing like a gondola (can't think of any better name for it) - a long rope between to pylons on a slight slope. Hanging from it was another rope and a platform for you to stand on as you flew down its length, running in a little trench lined with that padding stuff.

    Flying Fox is what we call those here.

    I also remember hearing one referred to as a "zipline" or something on American Gladiators.

    Jandaru on
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  • GimGim a tall glass of water Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Reis2 wrote:
    Gim wrote:
    I grew up in Austin until a little after the start of first grade. I used to love going to Zilker Park because it had this large wooden ship that you could run around on. I don't remember much else, except that they took it all out and added new equipment shortly before I moved. I seem to remember there was a lot more concrete.

    Anyone in Austin care to give me an update on Zilker Park? Oh, also, there was a Sonic in Austin where you would go inside and order from your booth using a phone. Is that place still around?

    OH MY GOD THAT THING WAS AWESOME

    Going to Zilker park was the be all and end all of class trips. Oh freakin man.

    Things have changed there my friend. Things have changed.
    The wooden ship will live on in us, compadre.

    How have they changed?

    Gim on
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