I'm in a few park and playground social media groups, and the park at the Des Plaines Park District…read moreAdministrative Center has come up a time or two as being particularly good. I decided we should finally go check it out. If you're coming here for the playground, don't make the boneheaded mistake I did: Stopping at the Iroquois Community School, which is right off Touhy and when I saw the school's playground I thought we were at our destination. You will be sorely disappointed if you stop at the wrong one. If you make your way here via Birch Street, you'll go all the way to the end of the street, turn left, and find the park on the other side of the building; if you take Maple Street to get here, drive down toward the barricade dividing the street and you won't be able to miss it on your right. With all that out of the way, this is a fantastic park. When we left the school playyard, something just seemed off and I am so glad that I went around the block to find the actual playground we'd intended to visit, at the DPPD. It's all the way back at the end of the road; you'll essentially dead-end into when you head down Birch. This is my current favorite playground. The equipment is fantastic and so much of it is geared toward the littlest kiddos, which is not always the case. Here there are small things for them to climb on and under, there's a little "farmers market" booth with different play elements, crawl spaces, slides, and so on. My little girl had fun just running around the place, and she also did some crawling and climbing and sliding and enjoyed trying to feed the big turtle sculpture, as well as naming the turtle's body parts that she recognized. Toward the tail end of our visit, she spotted the swings, which is her favorite so we spent a while there before heading out. All told, we spent about 45 minutes here. The first time, that is--we've since been back again in the last week or so since our first visit and were there for an hour or more. There are several picnic tables in this playground area as well, so many of the parents were hanging out there whilst the kids ran around. This playground is geared toward younger kids (10 and below). The terrain is turf, grass, and paved walkways throughout, and it's fully fenced which is one of my favorite features of a park right now (though some parents are better than others about making sure the gates are actually closed). There's a private parking lot, very convenient. I hope we see you there!

On Sept 15, we went to the Fall Festival to see Live bands play on stage but what we saw was…read moredrunken brawls break out during the concert. Prior to the bands playing and during the breaks, announcements were constantly made for Alcohol Sales. Alcohol impairs judgement and I highly suggest that at future park district events that No Alcohol Sales occur, especially events that are promoted as "family friendly".

We looked at this park for accessibility for mobility challenged people. Know before you go! Here…read moreis what we found: - Two handicap accessible parking spots - One handicap accessible porta-potty and water fountain - Terrain is wood chips, concrete walkway connecting the park to a basketball park and skate park - About 70 feet from main attraction to parking - One ramp to get into park and no play ramps Nice Park!!!

This is a cool park to go to. There is a skatepark, playground area, and basketball court. I have…read moreonly used the Skatepark and the basketball court. The concrete for the skate park is smooth where the ramps, rails, and ledges are and the outer area has little grip to practice flatground tricks. The ramps are kind of high and not really for beginners tbh. I tried to go up on both sides and fell off my board. Protective gear is a must when using the ramps.

We looked at this park for accessibility for mobility challenged people. Know before you go! Here…read moreis what we found: - No handicap accessible parking or restrooms - Terrain is wood chips, concrete, and patio bricks - 2 ramps to get into the park - 2 accessible water fountains - No play ramps - No accessible equipment Nice park!

Located across the JC Penney parking lot at Golf Mill Shopping Center, this is a nice park in a…read moregreat location. It is another favorite playground for my 3-year old. What maks this one great is the multitude of slides: regular, twin, spiral, roller and tunnel slides! It is not uncommon for my son Erik to go down 20-30 times on a single visit to this park. There's a nice bridge to run across or bounce on, lots of climbing contraptions, and usually the ice cream truck shows up too. This park is a nice stop for us before we go grocery shopping and helps Erik burn off some excess sugar and behave once we get to Shop & Save afterwards, also located across the parking lot. Another nice thing about Golf Mill Park is the ethnic diversity. I see lots of Indian, Mexican, Korean or Middle Eastern kids. One time my son played with a group of very well-behaved Lebanese kids whose strict, eagle-eyed mom watched them from afar. Most of the regular kids coming to this park are from nearby unincorporated Maine Township, which is a working class neighborhood. It helps my son see there are other people out there besides the sparkling white boys and girls with perfect haircuts he usually meets at the other parks around Park Ridge and Niles. In the early evening, there's always a group of adults playing soccer on the nearby field while their kids are at the playground. The park has tennis courts and an outdoor stage of some sort, which I've never seen used for performances. On the down side, there is no field house and the porta-potty smells pretty bad, so kids sometimes use the bushes for bathroom breaks. Funny story: One time my son Erik saw a gray-bearded grandfather wearing a white turban and robe, sitting on the park bench watching his grandchild playing nearby. Erik pointed at him and asked me, "What do you call that guy?" Correct answer: "You call him a person."

Had a fun time with a friend on this course. The employee was friendly and helpful. Prices seem…read morereasonable. The course is attractive and feels woodsy with some shade.

The mini golf area was fun! Went with a group of friends and the course is beautiful and well put…read moretogether, especially the giant waterfall in the middle of it all. It's astonishing how they kept a part of the city history that's the coal mine and turned it into a mini golf course with other activities as well! The workers were chill and we would come again.

Pretty nice neighborhood Chicago park. PLENTY of street parking that leads you right up to the…read morepark. The kids love the equipment here, especially the jungle gym made of ropes. There was one of those swings where you can lay down in (not sure what they are called) and one weekend it was broken, the next weekend it was fixed. Talk about great response time!

Pleasant Park is a nice, quiet playground near Devon and Harlem. It is tucked away in the…read moreneighborhood and has plenty of parking on the one way street. Every time I have visited there were few to no people there, so it is kind of a hidden gem. This park doesn't have a ton of equipment, but the playground they have is pretty nice. The surface is a nice bouncy surface and there are a few slides for the kids. There are 6 different single swings and a big hammock type swing by multiple kids. The park district did a nice job or incorporating some rolling hills into the play area to make it a little more exciting than a flat park. A large rope structure allows kids of all ages to climb and hang from the different lines. The park has a nice open space for kids to run around at. There is also a full size basketball court with lights for nighttime games. This is a pretty chill park to enjoy some time with your young ones at.

Oakton Sports Complex is a virtually brand new facility after a 17 month $33 million rebuild…read moreproject was recently completed in Aug 2025. Yippee for Park Ridge residents! The wife and I dropped in for the first time to check the place out and to get in our fitness steps. It was very nice to use the free, uncrowded, and comfortable walking track in the Athletic Field space. The weekday walking hours are 6am-4pm, except Wednesday when it is 8am-4pm. The walking track encircles an indoor soccer field. There are also free lockers for the storage of your personal items. At the risk of ruining things with this review lol, this place is a hidden gem for us! As I was looking around at the historical info ads about this long standing facility, I took a photo of the past Olympians from this ice center. A voice out of nowhere said "make sure to get a photo of the guy in red". The guy in red in the ad photo was David Santee, a two time (1976 and 1980) USA Olympian and sure enough the voice out of nowhere belonged to none other than David Santee himself lol! You can check the photo - he's not a fake and he is a retired director of this facility and also currently a skating coach here. Pretty cool coincidental run-in and David is a very loyal Park Ridge native, hooray! Besides the Athletic Field, there is the Ice Arena which houses a brand new studio rink for their figure skating and hockey programs. Big thumbs up for this new community asset and congratulations to the Park Ridge Park District on the completion of their very successful rebuild project.

Wow, I see that the most recent review is almost three years old now--definitely time for a new…read moreone! As I write this review for what's currently listed on Yelp as Oakton Ice Arena (until the updates I submitted are approved, anyway), it's actually a completely new facility. That's not hyperbole--the place was rebuilt from the ground up. I never visited the old arena, but have been to the new one several times since I live nearby and we also attended the grand opening of the new facility (which opened in August 2025). In addition to the main ice rink, they have a studio rink which is a fraction of the size, as well as an indoor athletic field. There's an indoor walking track that forms the perimeter of the athletic field, and though they open at 9 a.m., the walking track opens at 6 and is free of charge to use. They have a nice concessions area, which includes an outdoor patio in the warm weather months. As a park district facility, they have a variety of events and classes and you can also rent space in the building for your own events. There's classes for all ages; I signed my daughter up for baseball (the only girl!) and we'll try soccer in a few weeks. I'm also curious about the adult ice skating classes, and I'll definitely be looking into the children's ice skating when she's old enough to enroll. They have adult leagues for broom ball, volleyball, ice bocce, basketball.... The instructors are top-notch as well. I believe the facility has a golf range that will be opening in spring or summer 2026. There's a lot of parking here. I haven't ever seen it near full. They have quite a few electronic vehicle spots with chargers; possibly too many tbh but I'm probably misremembering how many there are. It's also just a couple blocks from the Dee Road Metra station, so it's easily accessible by public transportation as well. 2026 - Review #1

I used to go here when I was little. I thought ice skating would be like riding a bike. Nope...not…read moreat all! This was the first time my 6.5 year old son tried it and he was able to use a skate assistant sled. Unfortunately, the usage time is limited for others to use as well. And if a person didn't return theirs in the 20 minute slot, noone bothered going out to get it. So we patiently waited A few weeks later we go back here for a birthday party. I think we had an hour in the room and another hour on the rink. Not bad, but we felt rushed in the room eating & cake. Then, at the ice rink they had FOUR skate assistant sleds for us to use. Now, it's a party with about 20 kids, most of whom haven't skated before. So 'sharing' the sled was an issue. I asked someone that worked there if we could borrow more (because I know that had more & they weren't being used on the other side), but she said we are only allowed 4. Boo!

I came here to try ice skating for the first time in 25 years. Open skating fees and skate rental…read morefees are comparable to other arenas in the area. But, the perk here is that they don't charge more for non-residents to skate, so if you're bringing non-local friends, they won't have to pay more than you (unlike Evanston and other skating rinks). I do wish that they had some sort of pass card though like Evanston and Wilmette rinks both offer. Their website is a bit dated and confusing, but I sent them a message on Facebook to confirm their public skate hours and they got back to me within minutes, which was nice. They also have skate sharpening, which I definitely need before I try skating again (but haven't used that service yet). The rink itself is nice. It wasn't too crowded when I went during the week a week before Christmas, and the skaters I did meet were friendly. The woman at the desk was helpful as well. I'll definitely come back.

Another Yelp success story! Thanks to Mike O. for introducing me to this beautiful…read moreplayground/park (gasp!) in my own hometown. I guess I don't get out much. My toddler explored everything in the little kids play section (there is another for big kids). See-saw, swings, slides, jungle gym. All the structures seemed sturdy; they even held my weight! I also saw a sticker on the big piece indicating that the structure was designed for kids 2-5 years old and urging parental supervision at all times. The one item that was iffy was the red/blue-block climbing structure; as Mike O. said, it is treacherous and an open invitation for small kids to fall off of (of course, mine had to climb all the way to the top - me forming a protective shield with my body.) There is also a baseball field, tennis court and a Niles Park District-run preschool adjoining to the playground. Well-maintained lawns, easy street parking. I had to drag my daughter away, with promises that we'll return on another day.

In my continuing quest to find fun places for my kids to play, here is another hidden gem among…read moreplay-parks. Out of sight of major traffic, between Oakton and Milwaukee, this park runs from Ozark to Ozanam, smack-dab in a quiet residential Niles neighborhood. It has not one, but two playgrounds. In the "big kids" playground, there are three tall slides, with multi-level platforms, a climbing wall with footholds, swings, and a rickety bridge made up of "mushrooms" for walking on carefully. My 3-year old can navigate it quite well despite it being for older children. The second playground has easier obstacles and smaller slides, baby swings, a seesaw, and well-groomed shrubbery. An interesting construct of red and blue blocks is there for climbing, but it seems kind of treacherous for small kids to fall through. Still, it's fun to walk on it. There are frequent baseball or soccer games here, so it can be crowded. The lawn is beautifully well-kept, excellent for perfecting grass-rolling techniques by small children and grownups feeling equally silly.