Apple Valley Playground: Joseph McConnell Jr. USAF Park

In my venture to visit every park in the High Desert, and in no particular order, I found myself at Joseph McConnell Jr. USAF Park in Apple Valley, California. This is a new park to Apple Valley—in fact, it’s not even completely open yet! Thankfully, the playground is open, or my 2-year-old would have had some words for me.

I perused the entire park, taking photos, often from behind chain-link fences, because I wanted to capture everything. Of course, I’ll revisit once everything is up and running. For now, here’s what I was able to enjoy on an early-morning park visit with my toddler and mother, who had just as much fun as he did.

Does it slide?

Yes! This Apple Valley playground does slide. There are big-slide options and little-slide options for big and little kids. My toddler is one of those 90th-percentile babies who tower over others his age, so he skipped the little-kid slides and jumped on what we called the “BIG slide!”

I loved that there are clear signs indicating the age demographic for each play area. We had the park to ourselves, so we had the run of it, and I was able to happily snap away with my camera, capturing photos of all the little details!

Ages 5-12

Yes, my toddler did go down that huge slide that is probably meant for the 12-year-old range, and that’s me sliding down the barrel slide (one day I’ll learn the proper names), which is probably meant for the 5-year-old range—certainly not the 37-year-old demographic.

I also have a photo of my 75-year-old mother who found herself at the mercy of a toddler at the top of the BIG slide she slid down like a bullet and yes, I have photos, no, I won’t be sharing them because I value my life. My point is that we had fun so I think I can safely say this park is an all-around family friendly park! At least from the ages of 2-75!

Ages 2-5

As a mother to four children of varying ages, in my personal opinion, the 2–5 age-range play area is great for ages 6 months to 1 year. Anything above that will hold their attention for about 2.5 seconds before they’re running over to the big-kid area. The good thing is that the big-kid area has slides and activities that I feel are appropriate for this age range, too!

It doesn’t swing it soars!

There are no swings at Joseph McConnell Jr. USAF Park, but we hardly noticed! We were having so much fun looking for all the aviation details in honor of Joseph McConnell Jr. It felt whimsical and special. Here are some of my favorite details.

Let’s take a seat!

This Apple Valley park is a lot smaller than Hesperia’s Lime Street Park, which we visited the other day, so there aren’t as many seating options. But let’s get into what this park has to offer!

There is a shaded gazebo with seating options that isn’t too far from the playground. The catch is that there’s only one picnic table, so arrive early if you’re wanting a shaded seat near the playground.

If you want to read about Lime Street Park in Hesperia, click here.

The other benches scattered across the playground do not offer any shade in the early morning hours. The park itself wasn’t shaded either, but I haven’t come across a shaded park in the High Desert yet. I’ve been to many parks in Nevada, and they typically have shade structures hanging over the playgrounds.

Rules Are Rules

Every park has their own rule and regulations depending on what the park has to offer. It’s important to be aware of them, so here they are.

Fun & Unique Features to this playground

Lime Street Park in Hesperia has a merry-go-round that allows children to be spun or to spin themselves using a wheel in the middle of the merry-go-round. The Apple Valley playground has a merry-go-round that is unique to this park (as far as I’ve seen!) because it is flat, allowing even the smallest child to walk straight on. It only spins if someone who is not on the merry-go-round spins it.

The playground toys are adorably aviation-themed and were genuinely fun for my 2-year-old to play with. My 9- and 11-year-olds enjoyed them as well when they visited at a separate time.

Park Potty

I don’t like going places if I don’t know what the bathroom situation is because it can be very stressful with children. This park features inclusive restrooms with ADA stalls, a changing station in both the women’s and men’s restrooms, two stalls per bathroom, Dyson hand dryers, and the ability to lock the entire bathroom from the inside, if needed.

There are also lights in the bathrooms, as well as overhead openings that let in natural sunlight. The restrooms are near the playground and have two water fountains.

Dog Parents

There are two beautiful dog parks to the right of the parking lot when entering the park—one for small-breed dogs and one for larger-breed dogs. They do not appear to be open because the gates were locked, but here are the photos I was able to capture. I also love the detail of the benches being shaped like doggie bone treats!

A few more photos!!

Joseph McConnell Jr. USAF

Joseph McConnell Jr. USAF Park is dedicated to jet ace Joseph McConnell Jr., who is recognized as the leading jet ace of the Korean War. If you want to learn more about his accomplishments and life, click here.

Apple Valley Playgrounds

To learn more about this Apple Valley playground, click here.