It's a small park but nice. There's a nice walking path, but it's kinda small. Great for the…read moreelderly to walk around and loosen up. Came here with the dogs and it was okay. We sat at a picnic table, walked the path, then left. I'm never against any park, but there's not much to it. There's a playground with a nice grassy field, but one family playing soccer kinda took up the whole space. Don't walk around here with flip flops- the bark and the pine needles had a way of staying inside the flip flip and not leaving my foot. That was super irksome. There was an ant hill with very large ants that our dogs almost ran into but we somehow saw it in time to stop them.

Good park off of Bridgeport Way W in University Place! There is a fair amount of area to utilize…read morethe trails here but it's not such a big park where you could become overwhelmed or disoriented with the amount of trails and paths to walk. The park isn't as big as it looks once you start walking but the large forested charm is what won me over to go in here in the first place. There's some equipment for small children and some nice, short trails for the adults.

Wanted to find a new place to walk outdoors, see the water and enjoy the morning. This is a tucked…read moreaway place and I'm glad to have found it. Sasha and I had a great day. Good walk lots of smells for her. We will come back. Plenty of parking. Good vibes, calm peaceful. Lots of people were out walking with their dogs, spouse and alone. It was a very good experience. I recommend this park. They also have a restaurant across the street for afterwards if interested. You can also see more of the water on the other side. I didn't go walking there, I drove over. Very beautiful. Sasha was not having that walk too close to the water lol.

Lovely, open space park with great Sound view. Plenty of parking on a Wednesday in May. I imagine…read moreit gets busy in summer months. 1950 bathrooms. Several picnic shelters. Enjoy!

What an awesome place to stop by!…read more If you have kiddos this place is extra great - the playground is so delightful I just had to go down the slide! There's a building that has some really cute turtles and frogs and there are animal costumes for the kiddies. As for the adults? There's a walking trail that goes around the lake. It's pretty short, but if you go around a few times you can get a nice walk in. It's very shaded and I will definitely be coming here more when Summer comes.

The Tacoma Nature Center is such a local gem that I've passed hundreds of times and really had no…read moreidea. I actually saw a local mom influencer post about it on Instagram and decided to visit with my kids! The Discovery Pond playground is super cute and was a hit with my kids (5 and 3). It's all nature themed, of course, with fun slides and climbing structures, as well as a small playground off to the side of the main playground. In addition, there's fun trails for the kids to explore surrounding the playgrounds that I felt comfortable enough letting them check out on their own since the whole area is pretty condensed and it's easy to hear/see them. There looked to be some pond areas that were all dried up. From past photos I think there are normally some frogs and bugs and other things that sometimes fill up these ponds, but it being the start of the hot season they are pretty baren. Would be cool to come back and check out in the fall! I also appreciate the amount of benches and picnic tables around the playground, as we were able to snag a shaded one that the kids could have their lunch at and take a break from running around. After we played and had lunch at the playground, we went on the little half mile ish trail behind the info center. It was mostly flat and very easy for the kids. The hit was definitely the bridge that goes over a large pond where we were able to spot several turtles, tadpoles, ducks, etc. We didn't pay attention to the time and missed out on going inside of the info center (it closes at 2) so that will be on the list for next time as well. Overall such a cute little spot that we'll I'm sure we'll hit up several times this summer!

If any week would be the week to visit this playground/spray park combo, it's THIS week. Or, if…read moreyou're like me... You might just be avoiding the outdoors all together. There's two entrances to the SERA parks and I was directed to the athletic fields first. Go down a little ways past that turn, and you'll see the spray park. Lots of parking. Not shaded though, so prepare for a hot car when you're leaving. This place is awesome for toddlers. The spray park is pretty big and there's a bunch of water features. Some weren't on for some reason, but I'd say about 90% of them were. Most of them weren't too intense for my daughter, and the only one she steered clear of was the bucket dumping one. That probably wouldn't wiped all 18 pounds of her out. Off to the side of the spray park there's a brand new playground (or it looks to be). It was too hot to play on the day that we were there, but I definitely plan on coming back with my kids on a more mild day so they can enjoy that part of the park too. Bathrooms on-site that also looked new. Not a ton of shade here, mostly just from the trees, so be prepared to bring your own or snag a spot under the limited tree spots. Picnic tables also available. Recommend if you're looking for a free spot to keep your kids cool!

The park was awesome, but there was a man there that kept following myself and other mothers &…read morekids, probably won't come back

As a mom of three, I'm always on the hunt for a good playground/park. The Fircrest Tot-Lot was…read morerecommended by one of my best friends as she regularly takes her toddler here, so we met up to let the kids play one day. The biggest draw to this place is that the park is fully fenced in. If you have a runner, they can only get as far as the fence (as long as they don't know how to unlock it!) My kids aren't runners, but I like knowing that I can see anybody who is coming and going from the park at all times at the one entrance. The playground equipment is decent. I'd say it's geared towards kids who are little older (3+) as my two year old at the time was much too small and timid to attempt going on any of it. They had swings as well and some climbing structures which she was really interested in. The interesting thing about this park is that they have a ton of random toys strewn across the park. Riding toys, building toys, music toys... I'm assuming people come and donate them and just leave them, because there was no rhyme or reason and kids were just going at them like a free for all. Some of them were in iffy condition, but they didn't mind too much. All in all, it's a good little park! Definitely worth the stop if you're looking for safe, fun park in Fircrest.

I really enjoyed spending the afternoon at this park with my 5 year old. The park is fully fenced…read morein with restrooms and benches/picnic tables throughout to sit on. There's 2 main play structures, swings, tricycles and scooters to ride on and more. I was worried that this park would be totally geared toward the 3 and under crowd hence the name, but it's perfect for babies/toddlers/and older kids under 12. We spent 2 hours here and my kid had a blast. Street parking also, but very easy to find.

Jefferson Park is a lovely green space for the neighborhood! There's a nice little playground and…read moresplash park for the kiddos; some good walking areas; tennis, baseball, and basketball courts; and a huge green space area - the only limit is your imagination! I mostly ended up here because I heard that the sequoia tree is the largest outside of Cali (trunk measured from chest height). I don't know if that's actually true, but it's a really lovely tree and I found a Monkeyshine, which makes it even better! This is a great place to stop by to get some fresh air!

Jefferson Park is a nice, large park for this area of Tacoma. It's sort of near the Proctor area…read moreand I can tell that lots of the neighborhood kids come here to play. I've been here a couple times... despite living fairly close to it but I usually prefer the parks on the waterfront more. I participate in the Tacoma Rocks movement which is a group of people in town which paint and decorate parks all year around and hide them in Easter egg fashion for kids and adults to find... and hopefully to rehide but if they love them it's fine to keep. You don't have to stick just to rocks and this past Easter weekend I hid rubber Easter ducks for kids to find in this park as well as painted rocks. I announced in the group on Facebook and could tell that the rocks and ducks were found quickly from the response I got. There are lots of nooks and crannies to hide stuff like this in this park which makes it fun. During monkeyshine season which is around Chinese New Year some people in the community hide handmade glass orbs. I'd love to find one of those... maybe someday in this park?

The park it self is pretty nice and right next to Manitou elementary. The playground equipment is…read morebrand new and it includes swings, two play structures, climbing rocks, and other fun things that children can explore. The park is also very large with plenty of grass, trees for shade, picnic tables, covered eating areas, and restrooms. This really is an ideal place to spend a few hours letting the little ones get some exercise and have a picnic if you wish. So why only a three stars you ask? The neighborhood is AWFUL!!!! It is full of rift rafts who congregate at this park at all hours. During the day your likely to run into teenagers skipping from near by high school and middle school and occasionally you get a few tweekers who lay on the benches or sit on the playground equipment talking to themselves. The teenagers are the worst of the bunch, they come to smoke cigs and be as vulgar as possible. They also use the equipment for drawing inappropriate pictures on as well as their own personal toilet (I have seen this more then once). It's really a shame cause like I stated earlier this is a great park that is just suffering because it is being overrun by delinquents.

We really like this park. It's a perfect place to throw out a blanket and read a book. Or let…read moreyour kids run around on the playground. Well kept and clean.

Cirque Park is a decent city University Place city park... especially if you are coming out of…read moreTacoma and looking for a park that is relatively nice and has at least some amenities to it. There is a nice array of playground equipment should you have children and want to have them go about some exercise while the adults have brief moments of peace. The restrooms are unlocked and usable. I can't say that is very much the case with Tacoma's parks and knowing what that can involve by being open all of the time in that town and being familiar with the reputation that comes with that city should make sense as to why. Also there is recycling options here where yo can take glass to have recycled which is nice as not many parks have this option. I say this because glass pickup no longer happens in Tacoma from the curbside so you have to go to a park or area that has a designated drop off. So that is a nice amenity as well when going to Cirque Park.

Came here to visit the new playground! Came at about 9:30 on Sunday morning and the park was pretty…read morefull with some baseball games (about half the parking lot left) and left at 10:45 with just a few spots remaining. The playground has plenty of area and structures for kids from young walkers to older kids. My daughter also enjoyed the sand at the beach volleyball court. It's pretty easy to keep an eye on kiddos but there is a bit of space so if you bring more than one, it could be a little harder. Kiddo wasn't ready to go after an hour, so plan accordingly.