Splash Pad Review: Highland City Town Center

Happy Friday! Shye and I checked out a new (to us) splash pad yesterday. This one was probably Shye's favorite one so far. Which is unfortunate because it was a bit too much of a drive for me. Though on second thought, it is close to the outlets at Traverse Mountain so perhaps if we go again it will give me an excuse to do some outlet shopping. :) This particular splash pad features a man-made waterfall fall at one end that forms an ankle deep river that feeds into the fountains on the other end of the splash pad. Shye wasn't very interested in the fountains but she absolutely loved the river. It was full of small rocks that she could climb on and jump (and fall) off of. By the end of our excursion her bravery was starting to unnerve me. Several kids had brought toy boats and were racing them down the river. I'm going to have to remember that for next time because Shye desperately wanted those toy boats and kept trying to steal them as they floated by. And there were plenty of benches and even a few trees for mommas to relax under. One of the most perplexing features of this splash pad is that at the end of every hour it turns off for ten minutes. We had only been there for about 5 minutes before the water turned off and Shye just about about lost it. I kept telling her that it was going to come back on in a few minutes but to a toddler 10 minutes might as well be 10 hours. So unless your toddler has the patience of a saint I suggest arriving at the top of the hour so that you can enjoy a full 50 minutes of splashing before the water turns off.

Highland City Town Center report card

The fountains: 5/5

Ambiance: 5/5
Crowd factor: 3/5
Proximity: 3/5
Shady spots for mom: 3/5

Overall score 19/25

For more splash pad reviews check out our Splash Pad Guide.