Phillips Park

Great outdoor activity for family. Playground even a zoo. I used to come here as a kid. Our son loves it… met some friends

9^th Annual Festival of Lights. Virginia was here for the early years and she says the show is much better now.

The city really needs to clean the dog park. It could be so nice. Garbage and dog waste all over. I know it’s the dog owners responsibility to pick up after their dog’s. Lazy people, disgusting.

This place is spectacular and a great place for families to hit up on the weekend for a picnic. There is a huge park for kids with tons of slides and swings. The zoo is small but there is still a lot to see – and it’s free! There is a tram that takes you around the park too; it’s about a 15 minute ride and it is free as well. There is a small splash pad for the kids so if it’s warm make sure you bring bathing suits and towels. You really can’t complain about anything with this place because it doesn’t cost you a nickel. So if you complain then you just plain suck.

Accidentally stumbled upon Phillips Park yesterday when I was looking for a nearby fenced in dog park to take my pup Stella. Finally the weather was nice, but of course there was rain in the forecast for the following few days so we had to get out and enjoy the sunshine!
Since living in Aurora, I had taken her to a nearby dog park just once. When I typed in dog park in google maps (only because they aren’t all on Unilocal yet… I’ll fix that!), Phillips Park popped up as being 10 minutes from my house. Assuming this was the one I went to last time, I was on my way.
Side note: If you don’t know me, my sense of direction is less than stellar and I rely heavily on Google maps.
As we’re pulling up I realized, huh! This is definitely not where I was last time. But it was awesome! Phillips park has everything — a zoo, trails, playground, fenced in dog area, sand volleyball, a golf course, the works. Then I saw the pool and realized I had in fact been here years back when I was a nanny, I just didn’t know there was so much more to Phillips Park!
This review is mostly for our experience at the dog park though. So here goes…
We got there about 5:30 pm, just enough time to enjoy the last of the sunlight for the day. Parking was easy. They have spaces and side street parking, so we were able to pull right up. There were about 7 other dogs there with their owners/​families. It’s a pretty big fenced in area — about 3 acres. They have a smaller «time-​out» fenced in entrance for dogs to calm down if they get too excited, or to ease them in to all the commotion.
Stella is a social butterfly though, so she jumped right in to all the fun. Luckily they have doggie bags and a garbage can for your pup as well, because she definitely did her business.
Overall this park is a great space for dogs to get exercise and socialize. It’s nice knowing they are free to run and roam around without running off. I would suggest bringing some water for your dog because there aren’t any bowls available!
My only bug-​a-​boo would have to be the fact that the fenced in area is for all sized dogs. It would be nice if they could separate it into two play areas for small and large dogs. With 3 acres of land, there’s plenty of room. Although she was totally fine, I got a little nervous when some of the bigger dogs started rough housing, since Stella is just a little puggle. There were a couple other small pups that were even too afraid to come in.

enjoyed a pleasant walk through the park and zoo. only downfall are the younguns at the skate park who need to learn to clean up after themselves. same applies to the potheads who just emptied their ashtray in the parking lot.