Alta Plaza Playground

Fantastic playground with an amazing view. Very nice playground, newer than some playgrounds in the city, very very nice. Nice larger park and excellent playground. Great times guaranteed and gorgeous view

This is a wonderful Park ! It has soft playing surfaces and many slides for all needs. The view is so beautiful from up there.

This place brings me happiness and sadness when I come here. I used to go to school as a kid across the street and while at the crosswalk heading towards the playground, one of my classmates got hit by a car. He didn't make it. I still remember him wearing his green overalls. It was quite tragic and I don't want that happening to anyone else.

Please be careful when you cross the street to this playground. If you arrive at the top of the hill, cars coming up can't see you and often times people drive like they're driving a manual car and they end up in the crosswalk before they actually stop. Remember where there term California roll comes from. Drivers often don't stop at all despite the top of the hill intersection at Scott and Jackson being a 4-way stop.

This is one of the few playgrounds where the trek to the playground itself is part of the experience. The proximity of a playground to the street is always an important aspect of the design. It impacts safety in a big way. It's often a challenge to balance the distance to be close enough to be seen as a public place but not so close that passersby and people who don't really belong there get exposure to your kids.

Safety rating of this park is a 5 out of 5. This is the first and currently only 5 out of 5 rating I've given to the other 11 playground reviews I've written so far. The clearly identified entrances/exits to the playground further the safety measures. Aside from the ingress/egress gates, the structures are surrounded by a gate.

The hill part of the perimeter is also a grassy field where lots of parents oversee their kids. That in itself is a good thing. When parents are actually watching their kids, paying attention to where they are and who they're interacting with is good company to be in. No true for every park, I can assure you that. The vantage point from the grassy hill also allows all parents to see kids that aren't theirs. This is great for safety.

The structures are far apart enough where parents have vantage points between the structures to be able to see most of the playground. Density plays a bit role in safety of playgrounds as well. Some are so close together that it pretty much creates a wall where parents can only see their kids from one side. Again, the grassy area being on a hill provides a great view of your kids particularly with the higher elevation looking down into the playground.

Kids ride their bikes along the perimeter. I assume kids will continue to do that even after the playground itself opens up from Covid closure. So watch out when walking along the path or entering/exiting the play structure area. I've seen on more than one occasion where kids smack themselves into the gate and fall of their bikes. Luckily they didn't hit a 2 year old.

I'm doing playground reviews for two reasons. I have kids of my own and am on the search for playgrounds to take them to once the 95% of them that are currently closed (this one included) open back up.

The second reason is that I'm on a trek to find the best FPV quadcopter flying site and so far this is my top choice. These particular structure designs are great for navigating through. The length of the playground is also perfect. Width isn't too tight either so plenty of space. Ideal seating areas all around for best video signal and view of the quad if flying line of site.

Before anyone gets caught up in me flying quads in a playground, note that my quad is well under the 250g that's internationally recognized as toy grade. I'm also only planning to fly for the duration that parks are closed during the Covid shutdown. Once these playgrounds open up again, I'm gone.

In the unlikely event that my quad hits you, it won't hurt more than a Halloween sized pack of Skittles slapping you. I've got propeller guards too so it literally won't feel like anything more than possibly an annoyance. These tinywhoops are quiet as ever so I haven't had any issue with anyone so far. Most are just curious and excited to watch.

For those that aren't aware, the video quality on what's typically an analog feed to the goggles, is no better than looking at a bad 80's VHS tape. So don't you worry about privacy. The video quality is pretty poor by design. Reducing latency is much more important than improving video quality when flying and for that reason, anyone seen in the video can't be recognized as it's all just a blur. In other words, I'd have a hard time deciding whether to swipe right or swipe left on you if my drone footage was a replacement for Coffee Meets Bagel.

Beautiful park and playground. Super clean with a gorgeous view. Today was my first time here with my 2 y.o. son. A preschool nearby apparently uses this playground for their children. A countless amount of preschoolers overwhelming took over the playground with only so many teachers to watch over all of them. One of the preschoolers was giving my two y.o. tot a hard time. That child was probably 4 yo. He would intentionally block him from climbing the stairs and even had laid hands on him in a way where I thought he was going to start picking on my 2 y.o! Before I could intervene, one of the preschool teachers had to come and tell him to not touch his "friend" to which the young child gave her an attitude and said "he's not my friend". She then tried to let him know it wasn't okay for him to lay hands on my son and apologized to me.

I mean, what can you do, they're kids. Other preschoolers would take over the merry go round while my son was enjoying himself on it. It was a bit overwhelming when my son was enjoying himself and then a whole bunch of preschoolers come over and take over in an unruly way. My child goes to ECEC that have teachers where they teach them at a young age about mannerisms and not to push kids out of the way and also how to take turns. I had to cut my son's time on it short (he wasn't too happy), since several preschoolers wanted to go super fast on it.

I love children, don't get me wrong. They're all super adorable. While it's understandable children get excited especially at a playground like that, our experience today was a let down to know my son wanted to enjoy himself a lot more but was in essence pushed out by preschoolers that were a bit unruly at a public playground. I'm sure this park can be fun for some or during other circumstances. Just be mindful of the times you go and what to expect if you do go.

I think the alta plaza playground is beautiful and especially the view and someday I want to go too because this is one of San Francisco's beautiful outdoor green spaces. Alta Park is a combination huge lawn area for laying out a blanket and picnicking, beautiful views of the city, and a playground for the kids.

This is one of our favorite playgrounds. Especially good for little kids because it is completely fenced in. Beautiful view of the city.

I had to take my mom to an appointment at the hospital, but didn't want to wait 2+ hours with my 2 year old boy. Luckily, I found out this park was only a 3min drive from where I was and I fell in LOVE with it! Beautiful view, awesome gated play area and all the people that were there with their kids were super nice. I would love to bring my son back everyday, but we live in South City and this is super far for us. I will for sure bring him back on the weekends=)

I think this is my favorite playground in San Francisco.
The place is gorgeous, the park and games are in amazing shape. Any kid will enjoy so much a few hrs playing here. I totally recommend this playground before any other...

Arguably the best Playgrounds in the City.

The place is new, very large and well maintained.

Equipment is diverse and the view is extraordinary.

It's a nice playground once you are up there! But there's no easy way of pulling a stroller up (lots of stairs!)

Another great park I've taken my kids to play. I love that it has a huge climbing structure and it has awesome views of the city.

parking is along the street, so it can get busy at times.