Schreiber Park Review

Schreiber Park New Equipment Review                                                                    Updated 7/28/16
(Castle Park)
83rd Street at the Airport Galveston, TX 77553

So me and my lil' finally made it to the west end of the island to check out all the new equipment at Schreiber Park! We have been hearing great things about all the new equipment and couldn't wait to see what was there. Schreiber Park (known locally as Castle Park) got a complete overhaul to replace the old and worn out wooden castle equipment. The park is located right beside Oppe Elementary School off of 83rd Street on the West End of the Island.

 I think from now on Schreiber Park will be
 unofficially known as "Spaceship Park" or "Rocket Ship Park" - we will see what sticks! :-) The new equipment was so awesome and amazing!! The main attraction to the park is the big rocket ship that the kids can climb two ladders up to reach a number of slides. Let me tell you - it's high! So if you have a kid (or if you are!) afraid of heights - you may be better off in the little kids playground area. My 2.5 year old doesn't have an ounce of fear in her, so made it up the big slides before I even knew what was happening! But once she was up there you can see it is surrounded on all sides and the only way down is to pick a slide! I think she may have tried them all. The large piece of equipment also has some smaller slides on one side as well for the smaller kids.  One is a twisty slide and the other is a double slide. In total I think there were 6 maybe 7 slides attached to this one piece of equipment! There is also a nice rock climbing wall as well as plenty of other climbing apparatuses!



Behind the main piece of equipment are swings and fake rocks for the kids to climb on. The area is quite large which is nice so the kids can run and climb without fear of them getting hit by another child swinging. There are lots of swings and two handicap accessible swings. There is also a round circle swing! One of my favorite things about the swing area as well as the main playground equipment is the addition of landing pads! Underneath the swings and at the end of each slide is nice landing pad for the kids to land on versus just landing in mulch or dirt.

(Photo from City of Galveston Facebook Page) 

Across the sidewalk from the main play area is the little kids play area. This has smaller playground equipment, perfect for all your lil's! There are 3 or 4 slides attached to this one. There are kiddie swings right behind it. One cool addition to the kiddie area is the ride-on rocket ships that they can hop on and ride! Those were certainly a hit!    
                                                                                   (Photo from City of Galveston Facebook Page)
                                                   
                                                                            
One of the more fun things is the inclusion of a splash pad! That makes three splash pads on the island (the other two are at the recreation centers.) At first look the splash pad doesn't look like much, as it only has an airplane and two looped structures, but once on it really lets out a lot of water! Most of the water just squirts straight from the ground, which is a big hit with the kids! So I was pleasantly surprised seeing it in action!

There were lots of covered picnic tables around and plenty of paved parking as well. And since the park is next to the baseball fields, there are restroom facilities as well! In my book that is definitely a plus. The park is surrounded by a nice black fence that I'm so glad they put up! One oversight I see is that the sidewalk is raised, so for your early walkers or toddlers that aren't so careful, it could be easy for them to fall into the surrounding mulch if they are not paying attention.

Overall, I say hats off to the Parks and Recreation Department of Galveston for upgrading and giving our island kids such a cool park to play on. You may notice new equipment popping up all over the island's playgrounds! Hint - keep your eye on Sandhill Crane Park! Seawolf Park recently got a new playground as well, but since you pay to access Seawolf Park, we haven't checked it out yet.

Hope you enjoyed the breakdown, pictures and review of the new equipment! If you haven't made it out there yet - definitely check it out! And if you have - let me know if you have thoughts or comments to add!