Downey Park

This is a very pretty park with a little bit of everything.
We didn’t get a chance to try out the dog park section but it did look on the small side. The playground was pretty big and had an area for big kids. The playground for smaller kids was strangely on the other side of the park (although I guess it does make sense that they want to keep bigger kids off that playground, it was just a little inconvenient.)
There was also a sandy area for gym equipment where you could practice gymnastics moves or just exercise. It was hard ripping my 2 year old niece away from the sand.
The park was lined by a nice lake and there is even a fishing pier you can walk down. It was sad to find debris and garbage inside the lake and even gave my niece an impromptu lesson in picking up trash that can harm animals.
The main feature of the park was the splash pad that was pretty awesome. The water canons are not as strong as in other splash pads but they were still fun. There was also plenty of seats and shade here which you won’t find at a lot of other splash pads. The attendant was super nice and let us in for free since it was kind of windy chilly day an no one was using it at the time (It’s usually a $ 1). Will definitely come pack for the Splash pad since its closer than the Dr. Phillips one.

We came for the splash pad. It was really nice, lots of splash fountains and plenty of shady spots. Permanent tree sized giant umbrellas surround the space, and there’s tons of lounge chairs. No food or drinks allowed, and it’s $ 1 per person even if you don’t get wet. But we all had a great time. This was a weekday morning, and a all camp class of 10 or so 4 – 5 year olds came it. I can see how it could get pretty crowded on a weekend.

Nice and quiet usually by the dock, great place for an intimate wedding of 10 – 20 people. Lots of ducks turtle and large birds in the lake brush and water. There is also a sandy bank but it’s closer to the splash park which might get noisy on the weekends. Lots of other family oriented activities for sports, pavilions, dog park, tennis and basketball court.

This review is on the DOG park. This park is quite boring if there aren’t many dogs around but once more people show up its quite nice. I prefer Fleets Peeples park but this one is closer to my house and a nice change of pace.
Our dog got along really well with other dogs and people there. However there was a guy there who was letting his dog hump all the other dogs uncontrollably. It was annoying and this dog especially was all over my dog. After a really long time and lots of patience my husband carried the horny dog to its owner who could care less about his dog bugging anyone since he was on a call. He put it on a leash until we left. Then he let it go hump everyone else’s dogs who would put up with it.
I get a dog humping a little but this dog wouldn’t stop and would do it to all dogs without picking up on other dog body language that they wanted that dog to stop.
Please control your dogs a bit, they’re there to have fun and if you haven’t done any training at all then it sucks for everyone else that has. I’ll be back with my dog plenty in the hopes horny mr humps a lot won’t.

This park has a bit of everything for the whole family.
Playground, basketball courts, grills, pool, skate park, dog park, beach entrance to the lake…

I came to Downey Park for the dog park. A real let down with now having to enter the dog park from within the park (the old way was parking just off of colonial), which is a long drive in (past the now closed lake), and parking isn’t in front of the new dog park entrance. You have to walk your dog through a grassy area, next to the skate park to get to the gate. The major snafu is that there are no dog poop stations/​bags in this area, so if a dogs poos there and the owner doesn’t care, some child might run through it. Awesome.
Only bonus I see to this park is that it’s a grass park and not a mulch dog park. So if your dog has sensitive paws, this is a good fit. There is also a small dog and large dog section.

Wow has this place grown? I come here frequently with my daughter to play on the playground. There is always plenty of parking to go around and facilities for restrooms, bbq, and pavilions for cooking out. There is no swimming in the lake, probably because amoeba and naturally no lifeguard. Just off of Each. Colonial Drive is a bark park for large and small dogs which is actually separated from the rest of the park. There is an exercise set at the very end of the park adjacent to the bark park fence. The playground is sufficient enough to wear down a two year old, though not likely to be challenging to anyone over 10 without a heart condition. One of two unique features of this park is a small water park which is insanely cheap to get into. The other intriguing feature is a skate park area. There are also multiple baseball diamonds and a parking lot converted into a basketball court. Whenever I visit the park there are often less than one or two other small groups around. In contrast to Blanchard Park, that would be the ideal contingency spot if you cannot handle large crowded playgrounds.
Overall, not a bad place to relax with the family after a long day at the office or school.

Downey Park is a fairly large park with lots of community sports areas, and plenty of picnic tables. It may not be the most impressive park in town, but it will suit your needs if you are close by.
The Good:
Cool off: Downey Park has a nice splash playground that is really fun for the little ones to play in. And even if you didn’t bring a bathing suit, you don’t get all that wet and after playing around a bit, it’s easy to dry off.
Take the Pooch: There’s a seperate dog park area where you can bring your dog to go run around. I think it’s unleashed as well, so you can really let your dog go crazy if you want.
The Bad:
Not terribly amazing: This definitely isn’t a park I would visit too often, just because it’s sort of small and doesn’t have much to do, besides the splash playground (which IS very nice during the summer)
FYI: It is a good idea to know where this place is because it is also an official hurricane shelter for Orange County.
Overall 7.5÷10