Feeling nostalgic for the wooden castle playground of your youth? Kelly Road Park in Apex will have you remembering your golden days, and your kids will spend hours in the castle pretending to be a princess or dragon-slaying knight!
Wooden Castle Playground
I was just talking to a friend about the old wooden castle playgrounds of our youth and how they don’t exist anymore. From what I’ve been told, Laurel Hills Park used to be one of those wooden castles, but it was remodeled into the popular Sassafras All Children’s Playground due to fire and safety code violations.
Kelly Road Park in Apex is the last remaining wooden castle in the triangle area, but it’s new and improved! It’s been treated and painted, so no splinters like we used to get as kids! 😅
The castle has lots of interesting features, such as a pirate ship, rope climbing wall, and unique low ropes obstacles. We spent a good 2 hours here and I still had to drag the kids out when it was time to go. You don’t see these types of playgrounds much anymore, so the newness of it kept the kids entertained longer than usual.
whimsical art painted throughout 
back of the castle with slide and climbing wall 
pirate ship structure on the right side of the playground
There are also a lot of swings located behind the castle, in addition to a fancy merry go round with seats built in. Much safer than the old metal ones we used to play on as kids!
updated merry go round with seats! 
swings located behind the castle
Difficult to Keep up with the kids
Honestly, I was surprised by the size of this castle! It’s huge! There’s a fence running around most of the playground, but it has lots of openings without gates so it’s not fully contained.
Similar to Knightdale Station, it’s pretty much impossible to keep up with your kids here. Since it’s a solid wooden structure you can’t see all of the playground from any one spot. I just found a spot towards the entrance where I could see most of the playground and hoped for the best. I was lucky that my 2 year old spent most of his time in the sandbox so I could keep an eye on him easily. Just know that this will be a difficult spot for kids under 3 who want to explore but still need a close eye on them!
Toddler Section
The toddler section is still connected to the main castle, but off to one side. It has a cute train, balance beam, and whimsical art throughout the space. I would love to know who hand-painted all of the animals! It was such a nice touch to this colorful playground! We had also just recently visited the open play at the Tumble Gym, so my toddlers enjoyed practicing on the balance beam built into the playground!
Basketball, Baseball, and Picnic Shelter
In addition to the playground, there’s also a basketball court baseball field, and two picnic shelters. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed in under one of the shaded canopies. It’s all within close proximity to the playground, which makes it perfect for Birthday Parties… If you can find everyone when it’s time for cake!
This park was actually about a 35 minute drive from our house in North Raleigh, but it was definitely worth the drive! We would come here more often if it was closer, but I’ll definitely swing by if we are ever out that way again!
What about you? Will you be visiting this unique castle playground?!