I feel like EVERYONE has seen Pier 6 except for me and our kids. I’ve stayed away because I was afraid of the crowds on opening weekend and the first week. So, I finally made it there 2 days ago- sheesh, just a week and a half after the opening, but I feel like I’m the last person at the table.
First, how to get there.
Bike (they have a giganorous bike rack, see PHOTO).
Drive (there is a parking garage right there- I paid $13 for 3 hours- highway robbery and I am ashamed I was in such a hurry I had to use the garage). (Quik Park at One Brooklyn Bridge Park at 360 Furman Street 718-488-0099.) See PHOTO.
Walk (the entrance is at the end of Atlantic near Furman Ave.) I think the walk to get to it on Atlantic is a bit hairy, you can enter it via Joralemon too.
Bus (the B63 buses stop at Furman and Columbia Street intersection near the entrance).
Subway (M, R to Court St, A,C,F to Jay St, 4,5 ,2, 3 to Borough Hall).
Ferry (Seasonal ferry service on Saturdays and Sundays shuttles passengers between Pier 6, Fulton Ferry Landing and South Street Seaport. On Fridays, the ferry adds a stop at Governors Island and offers free bike passage! Check out ferry schedules and fares here. Learn more on the NYHarborWay website at http://nyharborway.com/.) As of Saturday, June 5th, free weekend ferry service will be provided to Governors Island from Brooklyn Bridge Park! The ferries dock at Pier 6 every Saturday and Sunday during the season. The ferry ride is a short 3 minutes, and ferries run continuously starting at 11 a.m. The last ferry to Governors Island leaves Pier 6 at 5:20 p.m. and returns from Governors Island at 7 p.m. For a full schedule of Governors Island’s programs and events, visit http://www.govisland.com/.
Ok, now let’s talk about Pier 6.
Pier 6 is currently made up of Water Village, Swing Valley, Slide Mountain, and Sandbox Village (see PHOTOS below). There is a promenade (see PHOTO) and a water taxi dock (see PHOTO) with service to Governors Island, South Street Seaport, Fulton Ferry Landing. In the future, they will have 3 sand volleyball courts, a concession with outdoor roof deck, small lawns.
First, the playground area of each section is gated. That’s especially important as the sight lines for each playground area aren’t good. That’s partly to do with the topographical elements they inserted into the park (with landfill) and partly to do with the placement of shrubs and playground equipment. One reassuring aspect, there’s only one entrance and exit to the whole park and it’s via a large walkway. That’s helpful for keeping track of your waywards.
Boardwalk. A little lonely there, but peaceful for lunch and for people who don’t want to be near kids.
Water taxi dock. Ferry service to the city and Governors Island. 3 min trip to GI!
You won’t believe we have got it so good in Brooklyn! This place is amazing. And I mean it. It’s fanciful, inventive, expansive, communal and topographically interesting. And, yes, a teensy bit dangerous. More on that later.
We stopped at Swing Valley first. They have bucket swings, tot swings, Tarzan ropes and more – 10 swing sets in all! Because each swing set has only 1 type of swings, (i.e.- bucket swings on one set, tarzan swings on another set), it can be challenging to make 2 differently aged kids happy on the same swing set. My older child wanted to be on a Tarzan rope and my teeny tot had to be in a bucket swing- and since I don’t have bionic legs to run to them between swing sets, we had to give up on Swing Valley pretty quickly. The playground surface under the swing sets is this beautifully tinted squishy floor, and I loved it. There are some nice wooden decks for sitting or putting your stuff down.
Swing Valley. Here are the bucket swings. Check out the nicely colored surface and wooden decks for sitting on. The hydragena were beautiful when we were there.
Tot swings at Swing Valley with a modulated, squishy floor
Then we made our longest (1.5 hour) stop at Sandbox Village. This has to be one of the biggest sandboxes in NY. It has a wonderful digger, various levels of decks for people to sit on, rocks that magically spew water randomly, stone animal sculptures to ride on, hand-crafted wooden houses and trains, and of course, sand! Our 20 month loved the colorful spongey blocks there and she climbed them over and over, and I wasn’t worried about her falling because of the forgiving surface. Watch out for the boulders in the sand though, they can trip anyone up.
Sand Village- see the wood train and decks? Water-spewing rocks are fun surprises and a good place to make sand patties.
The quality of the sand is really nice. Check out all the decks for sitting, changing and eating. Plenty of room for everyone!
Spongey climbing blocks next to a wooden house in Sand Village
One of the 2 hand-crafted houses in Sand Village
Since all four of the kids were sandy, we made a beeline to Water Village. This was the most stunning to me. It has a “water lab” with mechanical instruments that move water, a small dipping pool surrounded by rocks, a water-jet field that is a blast to run through, a dam that kids can open and close and a runway of water. The boulders get wet (of course) and as many parents have pointed out can be extremely dangerous because they are pointy and slippery. Also the water lab area is very slippery. Though my 4 year old son wasn’t running, he still fell down and hit his back. It’s a good thing he wasn’t younger or he could have had a real problem drowning in the pool of water that had amassed in front of the dam. A few parents expressed concern over the dam- could it close on toes and fingers and was it allowing too much water to pool? None of us wanted to experiment.
Water Lab at Water Village.
Some of the super slippery boulders. Check out the bench in the middle of the pool. I love that!
The water jets at Water Village. Elegant with trees, plants and a water runway.
The dam that you pull up and down had a few parents worried.
The only place we didn’t visit was Slide Valley (well, I did to take photos). I love the ampitheater seating there and the beautiful teepee slide. There are 2 long vertical slides additionally and a climbing spider sphere. The NY Hall of Science Playground also has one of these spheres, and they’re great. But since our kids didn’t play there, I can’t offer an intimate view of it. Anyone have thoughts on Slide Valley?
Slide Village. This climbing sphere is great for the older kids. The slides are monstrous and remind me a bit of Teardrop Park in Battery Park.
The teepee slide. Looks like it should be on the set of “Lost”
Drawbacks:
There are no bathrooms there. Well, there are port-a-potties, but really?
At least 3 kids in the 3 hours I was there were crying from sand in their eyes. How about some eye washing stations in Sand Village?
Some of the sight lines are particularly bad: i.e. Swing Valley
They need some more boulders or benches at Water Valley so you have a place to sit and change kids in and out of suits, take off shoes and lay your wet things. We were hopping up and down on legs pulling off underwear and socks.
I can’t wait until the concession stand opens: I needed something to eat after a few hours.
The water play area has the potential to be dangerous with the pointed boulders, pooling water in front of the dam, and slippery surface- and there really isn’t much you can do to avoid these possible problem areas in Water Village.