Roger Williams Park (not the zoo) – Providence, RI

Outdoor, Carousel, Train, Boating

https://www.providenceri.com/parks-and-rec/carousel-village

We were looking for something fun to do and decided to check out what the rest of Roger Williams Park had to offer.  We’ve been to the zoo there several times, in fact, its our favorite zoo around but there seems to be so much more to do in the area than just the zoo.

We headed on out to the Carousel Village and made our first stop at the carousel.  Both kids had fun riding up and down on their choice of horses while dad and I got dizzy spinning in circles.  We then decided to head over to the huge playground to see what it had to offer.  This was a “boundless” playground created by Hasbro toy company and made accessible to children in wheelchairs.  After passing a giant Mr. Potato Head and a rainbow road reminiscent of Candyland, the kids had fun running up and down the ramps on the playground.  We tested out the swings, a conveyor belt type slide and the monkey bars.  The kids couldn’t resist the sound of the train whistle off in the distance and off we went to take a ride on the choo choo train.  My daughter picked the yellow car and the crew crammed themselves in while I opted out to wave (and take pictures.)  My poor husband had to sit scrunched up to fit inside but by the time the train headed out of the station, everyone was excited for the ride.

The train took them around the park a bit and my daughter was excited to show me the pond they passed on the train.  We went over to check it out and found a really beautiful Japanese garden on the way.  The kids thought that the multiple bridges from section to section were really neat and also loved seeing all of the geese.  From there, we went over to check out the Swan Boats in the pond.

The four of us crammed into a swan and paddled off on our way.  My daughter decided she wanted to do the paddling so my husband and I decided to sit back and enjoy the view.  We headed through the pond and an under a bridge into an adjoining pond.  After a nice 20 min ride, we headed on back to search for lunch.  For simplicity sake, we checked out the cafe over by the playground/carousel and ordered up a few things.  The kids were excited about their kid’s meal which included a grilled cheese in the shape of a train and homemade chocolate milk.  They had ice cream there as well but we opted out to head home for naptime.

All in all, it was a really nice day.  There’s so much to do there! Apparently, there’s also much more – a museum and planetarium to name a few.  We will have to check those out some other time.

How to get there:

1000 Elmwood Ave, Providence, RI