Have you found the new park in Tacoma with the slides all the way down? If you haven’t been to this real life Chutes and Ladders style park in Tacoma, here is all you need to know about the new Dune Peninsula and Wilson Way, including where to park for the slides, and more.
The start of the walkway around Dune Peninsula from the parking lot to the right of the yacht club. You can see the yacht club to the left in the pic.
The new park is called Dune Peninsula. It’s huge! The views are beautiful, and the paths are mostly flat and smooth. It’s a great place to walk with a stroller or rent some kind of pedal bike. You can walk around it, and it also connects to Ruston Way, or can lead to Wilson Way and ultimately to Point Defiance Park, depending on which way you go, and how far you want to walk or pedal. We saw a bunch of folks who had rented surreys from Wheel Fun on Ruston, and they looked super fun. Nobody was huffing and puffing too much that I noticed either! Those of you who just want to do the slides should keep on reading!
Mostly flat, paved walkway loops around the peninsula-great place for strollers etc.
The slides are at the east end of the new Wilson Way Bridge, which is the new walkway that connects Ruston Way to Point Defiance. If you walk all the way across the bridge you’ll get to the grass behind the tennis courts at Point Defiance and sort of below and to the left of the Pagoda. If you go down the slides you get to the Point Defiance Marina. If you walk past the Marina you can get to Owen Beach etc…
The slides are at the end of the bridge on Wilson Way.
You can walk from the peninsula all the way to the slides, but that is going to be a bit of a walk, and there is a bit of a slope from the Point Ruston-ish end to the bridge.
If you just want to do the slides, the parking by the Marina-sort of straight under the pedestrian bridge- is closer, or there is also a small lot at the end of Wilson Way on the Point Defiance side. See my screenshot from one of our fun parks friends below. PS Reader Katie reminded me that yet another option is to pay to park in the Point Ruston lot-you can also get it validated if you’re going to shop/eat somewhere at Point Ruston.
If you go down the slides, you’re pretty much at the Marina. If you keep walking past them on this pedestrian bridge, you get to Point Defiance-you know where the tennis courts are? You’ll be right behind them.
The slides themselves are very cool. I didn’t try them, but I saw what looked like every kid in Tacoma (and a few of their parents) trying them, and they were all having a ball. They are interspersed with stairs, so not one straight slide. There are six, and each has a set of stairs next to them for those of you who prefer a more traditional route down. And, no, the slides don’t seem to get too hot! For more pics and reader tips, you can check out this fb post with lots of both from our amazing readers.
Btw, if you want a real workout, the stair here, and the sort of observation step up things on the peninsula part would most definitely give you one!
If you’ve been, please leave a comment and let us know how you liked it!
This is the best page I’ve found for directions, and a map.
