Encinitas Community Park

Cool to just hang out at. Went to the skatepark and met a new cool friend and about an hour in, pro skater Jamie Thomas showed up. Was cool to see local athletes just doing their thing.

This is a nice community park. My son loves it. When we’re in the area he likes to stop by. He enjoys running the bases. It’s larger than our neighborhood park, but a bit noisier, due to it being so close to the freeway.
I like the landscaping, it’s nicely done, very stylish. There is plenty of parking here. I haven’t used the restrooms here, but they do have them.
The playgrounds are pretty cool. My son is at an age where he’s not interested in them anymore, but the equipment here is nice, they have a little something for everyone. This is definitely a spacious park, lots of room to run around and play. Ideal for a kite.

We went to check out this park as a location to have a kids birthday party. The park is very big and new, it has lots of parking, large grassy areas (although the turf was looking a bit brown — probably due to water conservation and the drought). There were not as many benches or picnic tables as I would have wished, for such a large park. There were also only a few grills throughout the park. There was a triple grill (huge) next to ONLY 2 picnic tables. The playground area is very big and with lots of equipment. My concerns for having kids birthday party in here is that the park is too big, and it would not be easy to keep an eye on lots of kids, also, the picnic/​grill areas are not very close to the playground. The noise from the freeway is BAD, it was like a roaring train going by, in my opinion, it can be stressful to hear so much noise. So in spite of the wonderful playground, we will be having the birthday party at a different park.

Very pretty park! We came her for a lacrosse game. It was our first time. I had often seen the park driving along the 5 and I was excited to finally be able to stop and walk in it. There is a huge play area for the kids, baseball field, soccer field, running track, rest rooms, picnic tables and open area to play. The atmosphere seemed fun and enjoyable but my children would like me to warn you… there is a bully at the playground. They just wanted to make sure you knew that, so if you see him please encourage him to stop his bullying.

This is our favorite park ever. It is very kid and dog friendly. The park is laid out with a large 2 section dog park, modern playground with padded turf, multiple soccer fields, a few baseball fields, a nice skateboard park, and a picnic/​barbecue area. The entire park is encircled by a walking path. I always feel safe there, and it is easy to find a parking space.
We take our small terrier to this park several times a week. The dog park has a small dog area, as well as a larger area for dogs of all sizes. Usually we do a lap around the park path, and that takes about 25 minutes.

Wow. This park is large. The bathrooms are nice, the park is clean. There are baseball field, soccer areas, a skate park, a playground area and a dog park. Trails throughout the park, dirt or concrete. The grass is green. Water fountains available. I like that in the dog park, they have it separated for large, small and NEW visitor dogs which is nice. Lots of dogs at this park and lots of dogs being walked around. Moms and Dads playing or hanging out chatting while their kids play, skateboard instructors teaching little ones to skate. I saw a little guy younger than two that was killing it. The skate park can get busy and dangerous. Lots of older kids and men mixed with the younger ones, scooters as well as skateboarders. A skate pool next to it for the more daring. Super cool, fun park to take kiddos or lunch on the grass.

In terms of dog parks, this place is phenomenal! I take the dog here on the regular and I have to say, it has truly ushered me into the fascinating world of dog owners. I mean the park is rad but the people watching is off the charts. Crazy owners getting into it, doggy birthdays; ladies and gentleman, this place has it all.
The dog area is located in the north west corner of the park by the flower shop. There are 3 dog areas, two for the little guys and then the main big arena. The big area has a walking path around it, plenty of benches, a water fountain, and ample room for the pup run around. My only advice is watch your legs. With the additional space, the dogs get up to full speed and I’ve seen many owners eat it hard.

I seriously love this park. Very spacious. My favorite thing about this park is the DOG PARK! The park is divided into 3 sections.
— small dogs
— big dogs
— first timers
Every dog owner actually pays attention to the dogs. Everyone is extremely nice and welcoming. Highly recommend this park to everyone! :)

Damn Gina… swirling snaps up in a W formation…
One of the ridiculous things about living in San Diego are all the sparkling parks, recreation centers, and National Parks…
Most people think… community park… ewww gross… run down… sketchy people… crap on the toilets… smelly bathrooms…
Well yes… There was an intoxicated homeless person sipping on a forty… Natural Light, Mad Dog or Colt 45… of course! I didn’t quite catch the accuracy of that craft beer he was pouring out for his homies… of course, looking like Duck Dynasty Beards gone wild, Yelling profanities at the pool full of skaters… So yes, check, we have that covered…
But other than that, this place is full of activities on almost every square inch!
Serious soccer players practicing with their individual coaches, a mega play structure on one end, and a super smooth street skate park and pool set up for the whole So Cal skate scene.
Grass for days… families setting up for BBQ’s. plenty of parking.
There is much diversity at this community park… being in Encinitas. that is pretty commendable…

HOLY COMMUNITY PARKS BATMAN!!!
I remember seeing this huge piece of land off the freeway before it was this park and during it’s ground breaking moments! Every time that I drove on the 5 south, I’d take a look out to the right by Santa Fe Exit and just stayed in amazement of this park that was being developed!!!
This park has everything! 3 baseball fields, wide open spaces for picnic usage, clean bathrooms, soccer fields, and even a skate park area too!!!
This park is in such a great location! I totally see future events being held here!

Our kids absolutely LOVED this park. They’re 12, 9 and 6 and they all played together on everything! From crazy climbing nets to spinning fixtures– this place has it.
The only bummer (and the reason it didn’t get 5 stars) is there’s NO shade. Like whatsoever. They have all these benches surrounding the playground and even picnic tables on the grass and no canopies!!! They have big lamp posts spaced evenly around the perimeter of the playground. It would be so simple to install one huge post in the center and connect those triangle sail type canopies from each lamp post to the center pole. So many moms with new babies today who left quickly (much to their toddlers’ dismay) because it was way too hot/​sunny for the babies!

I’m on a quest to try eventually visit every park in South Carlsbad and Encinitas. On the agenda today was the new Encinitas Community Park. Overall, we liked it! A really nice park in Encinitas!
Here what we liked:
Probably because it is brand-​new, but everything is really clean and well kept, which I appreciate.
Good parking and a lot of trash cans all over.
A lot of concrete benches around the play structures for parents to sit and observe. The whole play area is a circle with a paved path around, perfect for riding scooters or plasma cars.
Lots of open grass space — a soccer field area, the ball park, and a large flat grass area for kids just to run.
The playground area is awesome! Totally different than so many other local parks with fun unique features. My boys were literally running from thing to thing for the first ten minutes, after only hopping on and hopping off, because they couldn’t contain their excitement and decide what they wanted to do! Lots of fun spinning things, an oversized see-​saw, huge climbing structure with nets, and ropes, and a hanging bridge. Super fun!
There is no sand, which can be a pro or a con. Con for my kids because they like to dig, pro for me because I don’t have to clean sand.
Great breeze, being so close to the ocean.
And what we didn’t like:
Kinda weird to find/​get to. You can see it easily from the freeway, but you have to turn into the Vons shopping center and drive to the back, down a long alley way to get to the parking lots.
NO shade!!! We were there on a totally sunny day and I never got too hot sitting and watching because there was such a good breeze, but the play structures and ground got pretty hot. I can only imagine if you were there in the summer how bad it would be.
Lots of unleashed dogs running around. I know that there is a dog park, but keep the unleashed dogs over there! There shouldn’t be dogs running around the play structure, jumping up on the climbing features.
Busy freeway isn’t the best back drop.

The best park I’ve ever been to! The park is just plain awesome and my kids can play for hours since every structure either spins, swings or has multiple ways to climb.
The skate park is great and my 11 year old has a blast learning new tricks and perfecting his skills. It’s really nice since he’s starting to get to the age where parks aren’t as cool as they used to be and this one completely changed his mind.
We don’t have dogs but I checked the dog park out anyways and it’s really nice. I also appreciate how it’s completely separate from where the kids play since my 6 year old has a total melt down meeting new dogs.
I love the openness and fields for sports and picnics… I can’t wait until the trees are bigger for some shade. So for now, hats and glasses the whole time:)

So, apparently you can write reviews for parks!
Encinitas Community Park is brand-​new, only been open for a month or so, and it is gorgeous! I’m currently standing around, waiting for the Spring Easter Egg Hunt to begin, and I am amazed at how huge this place is. Three large fields, two of them baseball diamonds, a beautiful nature trail, a fully equipped playground, and a great skate park that would make my uncle proud; all of this with plenty of parking for everybody.
Full fencing separates everything, the trail itself is clean and pristine, and the playground seems nice and spongy for the safety of kids two and up. I’m really impressed at the beauty and grandeur of it all. Encinitas should be proud to have a new park like this. Only time will tell if it can be kept up to the level of greatness I see here today.
On the Easter side, there is an impressive event going on right now. Volunteers in the city have gone a long way to make a great party for everyone to both enjoy and take part in. Standing on the edges of field 2, we easily see about 10,000 eggs waiting to be picked up by eager two-​year-​olds.
There will be little chance of parents screaming at their children to push down other kids in efforts to get their eggs this year.
«Punch him, Mason! Punch that kid for Jesus!»
EDIT: I have to warn park-​goers, there are A LOT of dog owners here that will let their pooch off the leash. This isn’t that bad as many do it at the actual dog park or far up on the higher fields and pick up their crap.
But, there are also parents that keep their dogs with them on the playground. I got to watch today as a woman pushed her kid on the swing while puddles kept appearing at her two dogs’ feet. More than once I’ve seen people picking up steaming loads by the slides. It’s pretty eff’n disgusting.
Though, I guess many people don’t care if their kids play in animal waste.

Dog Park review only:
Finally took my dog here today after hearing good things about this park. I wish I had read one of the other reviews more thoroughly because I drove all around the darn park looking for the dog park — I finally parked where I initially stopped because I recalled seeing other people with dogs parked there (duh moment I guess but you can’t visibly see the dog park from the parking lots).
I also really struggled to find the park itself — I don’t know if the address itself is off or if Google maps just didn’t want me to go there. So if anyone else has these problems, there is a sign where to turn (next to the defunct gas station at the end of the shopping center) — I didn’t see it because i was busy following my GPS that said to turn at an actually street up ahead — I did see the sign on the way back around as I was avidly looking and hoping that there would be a sign! So when you find the right spot you drive straight back and park in that parking lot. The dog park is literally tucked away in a corner on the West side by the restroom and you will see paw prints on the ground. The path also leads right by a flower shop on the other side of the fence.
So once we got past those hurdles I was pretty impressed with the park itself. The Large Dog area is HUGE and fantastic. Petunia ran like a fool and found a couple of good partners to chase — she tired out pretty quickly. I didn’t really talk to anyone — most of them seemed to know each other but I wasn’t on the ‘in.’ I saw one or two people seem a bit wary of my dog but other than looking like a (smaller) pit bull her biggest crime is french kissing every dog she meets instead of the standard meet-​n-​greet. One or two people shooed her away but no one was aggressive or mean about it so I guess that’s fine. There’s a sidewalk around the outer edge of the park to walk with or without your dog, tons of trash cans, and a fair number of benches. There isn’t any shade at this park (nor at the other one we’ve been to). It is great that it’s grass, I think that’s why she had such a great time — she will run like crazy on grass or dirt but at the other park with the wood chips she seems more subdued. They have a water fountain for the dogs near the gates which I was thankful for since I didn’t bring my own water to the park — she found it right away. There was a muddy area down in one of the planter areas but it seemed no dogs were interested in that area.
The Small dog park is a joke — it’s a narrow strip of a dog run — I didn’t see anyone in there. They also have a «First Timer» section which is bigger and there were some people/​dogs in there taking it easy. Overall I like the set up and they did a great job on the Large area and the gates are very nice. There is a sign saying that starting on ³⁄₁₂ they’ll be closed from 1−3p (or 1 – 3:30?) for routine maintenance on Thursdays — so take note of that.
I don’t know that I’ll be back given the distance and morning freeway traffic — it just took too long to get there for me personally; especially given that there are two other parks I can get to (perhaps not as nice though) that don’t require bumper to bumper mayhem. If you live nearby though I definitely recommend this dog park!

My wife and I took our dogs for a walk at Encinitas Community Park to check it out before we realized there was also a dog park. The park is right next to the 5 freeway and has two entrances. The first is off of Santa Fe Drive just after the 24 hour/​Vons shopping center. The entrance is right next to the gas station that is currently closed down, you will see a park sign. The second is off MacKinnon Avenue via the Birmingham freeway exit.
The North side has the skate park, dog park, soccer fields and kids play area. The South side has the baseball fields. We parked on the South side and walked over. There is parking around the outside of the entire park. There are also restrooms on the South side of the park next to the baseball fields and North side next to the dog park. There are multiple walkways including concrete and dirt with signs to help you find your way around. There is also a concession stand behind the ball field bathroom.
The dog park is tucked in on the West side by the restroom and you will see paw prints on the ground. The path also leads right by a flower shop on the other side of the fence. Hours listed on the sign are 8am to Sunset daily. The park is split up into three sections: Small /​Large /​First Time Visitors. Each section does have grass. I agree with other reviewers that the small dog park should have been much larger. The large dog park is super huge, there is lots of space to run around. We let our two 20lb dogs into the large dog area since all dogs were in there, big and small. Our trip there went fine as the dogs we came across were all quite friendly. Our two dogs had a fun time taking a walk around the entire large dog area and greeted some dogs. It’s a shame they didn’t make a bigger area for smaller dogs to run around as well as I’m sure there will eventually be some issues with small/​big dogs. I wasn’t paying attention to trash cans but I agree with Sol that there should be trash cans inside each section. There also isn’t any shade nor do I recall seeing any seating in the dog park. It helps that the dog park is closer to the ocean but nearby Cricket’s Corner in Encinitas is a better choice on a hot day in my opinion.
I do not have any kids but the play area looked nice. It has the soft rubber on the ground instead of concrete. The skate park was quite busy and cool that more parks are catering to teens. While heading back to our car we did see a huge swarm of bees nestled into one of the recycle bins on the walk path. Hopefully they have staff to keep an eye on that.
All in all we thought it was a nice park and plan to go back.
Update 3 days later: the bees are gone. I did verify there isn’t a trash can in the small dog area. There are some places to BBQ around the park. The skate park also has an empty pool. Hours for the skate park are also 8am to Sunset. There are water fountains spread around the park with a few to fill up your bottle. I did not see any benches that had shade.

I got to visit the Encinitas Community Park today for the first time with my kids. The park is fantastic. Being a weekend and recently opened, it was super busy. Still there was more than enough parking and plenty of space for all the people to enjoy themselves.
The boys and I headed straight to the playscape area to meet some friends. The equipment here is unique from just about anything else I’ve seen before at other parks. They have a lot of equipment with about three major play structures and several other smaller pieces. In general, my kids tend to tire of playscapes fairly quickly these days but they enjoyed themselves playing here about twice as long as usual.
Eventually, we said goodbye to our friends and went to the skatepark area so my boys could ride for a while before heading home. The skateboard area is large and well laid out. It seemed to have a good mix of options and difficulty. My kids are just getting started and they were able to find space to go almost non-​stop.
I’m sure we’ll be spending a lot more time at this park.

This review covers the dog park, although the rest of the park looks nice, new, huge, and green, and it’s easy to access.
This dog park is the best around. I’ve brought Ava, my 60-​lb, 1-​yr-​old, pitbull/​lab mix there and both times she’s run almost constantly for an entire hour, either chasing dogs, chasing balls, or just exploring. And a tired, happy dog makes for a happy owner.
THE GOOD STUFF:
— There is a separate entrance and exit to the large dog park. This creates less tangles with dogs entering and leaving.
— It’s almost all grass… but that can have its negatives, which I’ll get into.
— It’s got some hills, embankments, and a marshy area… which can have their negatives.
— It’s just huge, about 2 acres.
— There are separate, fenced-​off small-​dog and get-​to-​know-​the-​dog-​park sections.
THE WHY-​ONLY-​4-​STARS PART:
— This goes out to all of you who complain about the use of wood mulch and wood chips at the two Carlsbad dog parks: even a couple days after some rains, there are muddy, un-​drained patches of grassy field here. The mulch parks dry up much more easily. And a storm drain passes on the edge, leaving a marsh. Bring your Fluffy an extra towel.
— Probably because the small-​dog park is so small, people bring their yappy sub-​10-​pound lapdogs into the big-​dog area and then get agitated when the big dogs come to play with them.

SO happy that this park is finally open. Was surprised to see there is a skate park. That wasn’t on my radar at all but I’m glad it’s there. Anything to keep teenage boys occupied and fit is groovy in my book.
My main reason for coming here will be of course the dog park. My dog has a lot of energy she needs to release and she does go to Powerlines almost daily but comes back a little dirty. The dog park here is all grass which keeps my girl clean. She seemed a little timid at first since it was her first time here but soon she was zooming all over with a line of doggy friends chasing her around. It provides dog waste bags and has a doggy drinking fountain. My dog was scared of the fountain but hopefully she will get over it.
The people who were here with their dogs seem to know each other and the dogs seem to get along for the most part. There was a little scuffle and the owners were on it right away. The small dog park though is a joke. I would say to small dog owners to take them to the first time part which is larger and then incorporate them into the main dog park once they seem comfortable. There were many small dogs running around in the large dog park with no problems. This is how dogs get properly socialized.
I will be a frequent visitor so if you see a small pit mix zooming around the park come over and say hey.

I’m very excited this park is now finished. I’m so happy.
Located right off the freeway, I have watched the progress a long time now and always wondered, «when are they going to open the place?» Well it’s finally open. Though not officially as I believe the grand opening is this Saturday. Regardless, it is already going off big time. We went just before sundown and there are lots of people walking dogs, cruising around the baseball fields, throwing footballs around and… get this — skateboard park!!! I did not know they were building a skate park as well. As we drove in I got all excited and realized I want a skateboard again. I have no business on a skateboard anymore but I want one now. Oh boy! It’s on and I’m gonna get hurt.
Maybe I’ll just picnic, play softball, run my dog, play on the swings, run around the trails. Man, I don’t know. I just feel happy to live in Encinitas. it’s such a wonderful place. I love my city. Encinitas is just a fantastic place to live. I really want to thank everyone that had anything to do with this park and our city planning for all the beautiful work they have done. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And, thank you, again.
I know some really great things will be happening at this park and I just can’t wait to be a part of it.
Suggestion… Music in the park??? Maybe? It’s just an idea but it would be fun if they hired or allowed occasional summer concerts at sundown as they do in Del Mar.
Whatever they do or allow I will be there. thank you again. What a fantastic job.