Dennis the Menace Park

Love love love this park! Great for kids of all ages, it has three different playgrounds, two bridges, swings, lots of swervy slides, a rock climbing wall, and even a kid sized rock climbing wall! There is a pretty decent sized parking lot, and it is adjacent to a lake with lots of birds, ducks, and paddle boats. There is even an old steam locomotive engine on display!

My absolute favorite park in all of California! Seriously! It’s big, has lots of play structures for all ages, is gated and safe! Once you’re done in the park, there a little lagoon to walk around, feed the ducks, and go paddle boating! Bring your picnic lunch and enjoy the day!

This is playground on overdrive, and big enough to spread out hoards of children (when busy) so that it’s quite possible for responsible parents to manage.
Very special place for my young kids (as we aren’t too local to monterey). I’m not sure it’s possible for them to get bored there. Instead, the risk is for your little ones to get overtired from not knowing how to stop having so much fun that this place induces.

This place is awesome! So many options for the kids to have fun. Restrooms are decent and clean. Shady areas for parents to sit.

Super fun for the kids and family. We came up here for vacation and wanted to something less touristy so we brought the kids to the park and spent a good amount of time here. Playing on different slides, hide and go seek, ran around in the maze, rock climbing, watched few guys skateboard at the skateboard park next to the playground. Just so much fun and relaxing.

Take a picnic and plan to make a day of it!!! Or skip making the Sammy and go to the great little snack bar! Nacho cheese fries y’all! Delicious! This place has many padded areas so safe for the little one and the really old ones! Great winding slides that look out to the pacific and in front of that, lake el estero! Get your paddle boat on! Walk around the lake and check out the geese, the fountain! The little island in the middle that’s host to many birds and bats around sundown they are all out darting through the sky just above you! This place is very special and so vibrant, a wonderful park to make memories with your people:-)

An amazing park for kids (and adults). Like the other reviews have said, there is so much to do here it’s pretty amazing. My favorite was the bridge as my kids loved running across it. The variety of slides and other things to do was pretty cool too. I wish they had one of these where I lived.

THIS PARK DOES NOT OPEN UNTIL 10AM. Otherwise, a great park. Lots of tunnels, slides. A very clean park

What a fun park! There is something for all ages ! There’s even a fun maze. Your kids will thank you for taking them.

This isn’t a review for the park, but an FYI to other families. Not sure why this isn’t posted on Unilocal,but park is CLOSED on Tuesday’s when Monterey schools are in session. Unilocal,please include this on info about the park. Bummer!

This park has it all. 3 large play structures that are tailor made for children of different age ranges; Slides galore; swing sets everywhere; a skate park in the back; a miniature hedge maze; a suspended bridge for gallivanting across; and sand everywhere.

My husband used to come here as a kid. Now I take our kids here. It’s a pretty cool park, and it is freaking huge. It is located right next to a large pond, a baseball field, and a skate park. There are probably 2 – 3 different play structures, including 2 separate big slides, a little swinging area, a rock climbing structure, two tunnels, and a really huge bridge. I had to kill some time here with the kids and we easily stayed here for three hours (way more fun for them than me).
We went on a Friday so it was pretty crowded, even for a huge park. The only downside to such a huge park and having multiple little kids of your own running all over is keeping track of them!

Cool park to come to on your way out of cannery row and the aquarium. Kids can get their energy out and then sleep on the Long drive home! Bathroom is pretty clean for most public parks.

I’ve been coming to this park for years. It is great for both locals and tourists. The park is relatively big and has areas for kids of all sizes. I like the small labyrinth. It is fun for small tots to explore in a confined space. The suspension bridge is also great fun for all.
It is not always open, so you might find that it isn’t available at some times. That can be disappointing. Personally, I have never been there when it is closed, so it isn’t a big deal. There are lovely views of the bay and the pond from several points in the park. I love it.

Meh. It’s ok. Doesn’t open till 10 am? Wtf.
Can’t figure out why it would open so late.

What a great park! Thank you Unilocal!for helping my find this place!
There is so much to do! A long bridge, cool slides, a hedge maze. Everything to spark your little ones imagination.
My husband said his parents used to take him to this park when he was little so it’s really cool that we can now take our own daughter!
I can sit here and describe every aspect of this park but you really have to just go and see for yourself!

Delightful little park, walking distance to wharf and water. This was one of our first visits here. Lots of different things to play on with tons of sand.
Not 5 stars only because it’s pretty lacking on things for little little kids to do. There aren’t really any small climbing structures or slides of the newly walking. Even my 3.5 year old is pretty little for most of the stuff, but he gets by with help.
Best of all this is FREE and open most days… except Tuesdays while school is in session.
There are a few picnic tables if you want to bring food.

A must when your in town and bringing the kids. It’s simple and huge, anyone can enjoy this great area. Big slides, big play sets, and they even offer a small rock climbing obstacle. They have plenty of parking around the area and have amenities like row boat rental, and snack bar. When in doubt tire the kids out at this great park before you go home on that long car ride. It’s within walking distance from the wharf and lots of restaurants to choose from. Come here with the kids every time when we’re in town.

This park continues to rock! My kiddos still love spending hours here. The weather is always beautiful and the fellow parents are always really nice.
Bathrooms are as clean as can be given the fact that it’s a park.
Parking can sometimes be tough to find, but I end up parking by the cemetery accross the street… it’s quiet and there’s a lot of shade

Ok! This place is awesome and puts every park I have been to to shame! It was referred to me by a friend that use to live in Monterey and said back when her kids were small (over 15 years ago) this was the pack to go to. Indeed ’tis!!!
My son walked onto this playground and his eyes got as wide as mine would be if Bouchon set a giant jar of their foie gras in front of me… He just didn’t know where to start!
There is a huge suspension bridge that kids could run across (and run across they do) just be careful of the really little ones, if you get a bigger kid on there running across it jiggling the heck out of it while your barely-​walking toddler is trying to cross, you baby may get PTSD and not want to cross another bridge!
There are playground areas for all ages and they even have a little sign up that states which playground is most conducive to what age range. I’ll tell you this… We took my son down to Monterey for his second birthday and he managed to play on all the playground sets, regardless of what age the are designated for.
Just outside of the playground area there is a man-​made lake where you can rent swab-​shaped paddle boats. Sorry I couldn’t tell you more about this area, my intention was to get my son over there for a paddle ride but I seriously couldn’t tear him away from the playground!
It isn’t too far from the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail and if you are into riding bikes you can actually ride from this park, to the trail, and right into Cannery Row.
I will definitely be stopping by this park every time we are in the area, well at least until my son is over parks.
Enjoy!